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THE BLEEDER'S DIGEST:
\ CAMPUS BLOOD COLLECTION
REFERENCE MANUAL
ENGINEERING^ ft^pAPy
'^^ERSITY ^ IS
URBAN A
Jgr OSRARY OF TUi
CAC DOCUMENT NO. 192
THE BLEEDER'S DIGEST:
A CAMPUS BLOOD COLLECTION
REFERENCE MANUAL
by
Melissa Bean
John Hackmann
Paul Pisarik
March 16, 1976
Blood Donor Research Group
Center for Advanced Computation
105 Advanced Computation Building
University of Illinois
Urbana, IL 61801
(217) 333-4975
supported by
Illinois Regional Medical Program
Contract US IRMP HEW SUBC/OG-58
Findings and conclusions do not necessarily
represent the views of IRMP
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive
in 2012 witli funding from
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
http://archive.org/details/bleedersdigestca192bean
INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUAL
This manual was written for students and blood donor recruiters
Interested in starting a campus blood program or in improving an already
existing blood program.
A comprehensive outline of the organization and operation of one
successful blood program, that of Volunteer Illini Projects at the
University of Illinois (at Urbana-Champaign) , is the base on which this
manual is built. Before the implementation of the program, the University
of Illinois with a student population of 35,000, produced less than 1500
pints per year, and in some years, none. Presently, 6000-7000 pints are
collected at spaced intervals throughout the year by several agencies to
benefit hospitals throughout the entire state of Illinois.
This manual doesn't have all the answers; indeed, every successful
blood program we have seen has been unique in some way because of the
particular situation: student attitudes (or apathy) , the distance from
the blood bank, paid blood centers competing for donors, the budgets of
the blood banks and the college administration — and perhaps most
importantly — the skill, effort, and interests of the various individual
personalities involved.
Every good blood collection program is to a certain degree a seat-
of-the-pants operation. You will be on your own to make decisions and
be creative with the resources you have. This is one reason why blood
donor recruiters find their job rewarding — it brings out their organi-
zational talents. A strong feeling of satisfaction can come after a
successful drive.
And the people — donors and volunteers — are really great. It
creates a good feeling to be in the midst of people giving of themselves,
literally, cooperating, and feeling very positive about it. Anyone who
has spent a lot of time around volunteer blood donors is going to feel
better about people in general.
Let us know about your blood program — you can send in the enclosed
post card, or write us at the Blood Donor Research Group. More materials
that may be of use to you are available; if you would like a bit of these,
please indicate.
Consulting by mail, telephone or in person may help to speedily
resolve certain problems, and we will do this within the limits of
available resources on your request.
A WORD ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Melissa Bean was Chairperson of the Volunteer Illini Projects Blood
Program 1974-75. She is now enrolled at the Chicago College of Osteopathic
Medicine.
Paul Pisarik was the 1975-76 Chairperson of the VIP Blood Program. He
is a pre-medical student.
John Hackmann helped Initiate the program and his interest in blood
programs led him to form the Blood Donor Research Group, which produced
this manual and is carrying out more research and dissemination efforts
supporting voluntary blood collection programs nationwide.
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All illustrations are taken from crayon drawings made by donors
in the canteen area after giving at blood drives run by the Volunteer
Projects Blood Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Introduction
Foreword 1
Ingredients for Success 3
Goals of the Program: A Safe Pentiful, Low-Cost and
Demand-Responsive Blood Supply 5
Why Are College Campuses So Important? 9
The Significance of Altruism 11
Important Telephone Number List (abbr. ITNL) 13
Organization of the Student Blood Program Committee 17
A. Blood program director 17
B. Blood program committees 18
C. Selection of director 22
D. Selection of committeeheads and members 23
E. Volunteers 2A
Central Campus Drives 27
A. Annual planning 27
.1. Arrangements to be made 6 months in advance ... 27
2. Physical set-up at the drive 31
3. Cooperation with your local blood bank
during the bloodmobile 33
4. Summer drives 34
5. Faculty and staff participation in the program . 35
6. Christmas and summer pledge cards 36
7. At the end of the year 36
B. Per drive planning 39
1. Things to do BEFORE the drive 39
2. Things to do AT the drive 42
3. Things to do AFTER the drive 53
Suggestions for a Dormitory Blood Drive 55
A. Annual planning 55
1. Arrangements to be made 6 months in advance ... 55
2. Physical set-up at the drive 59
3. At the end of the year 60
B. Per drive planning 61
1. Things to do BEFORE the drive 61
2. Things to do AT the drive 65
3. Things to do AFTER the drive 69
LIST OF APPENDICES
A List of Books and Articles Related to Blood
B Policy Issues
C Blood Assurance
D Sample Donor Eligibility Sign
E Red Cross Eligibility Guidelines
F Tips to Making the Volunteer and Donor Schedule Sheets
G Scheduling Donors
H Making Phone Calls to and Answering Phone Calls from Donors and
Volunteers
I Basic Donor Recruitment Principles
J Summary of Results of a Blood Donor Motivation Study
K Checklist for Inspecting Potential Bloodmobile Sites
L Blood Donor Inventory Software Package
M Mailing to Donors
N Statistics to be Measured at End of Each Drive
Sample Letters to be Sent to Faculty, Staff, Volunteers, and Parents
P Definitions
Q Sample Usage of Newspapers
R Sample Volunteer Manual
FOREWORD
Before you start reading any other section of the manual, several
points must be made about the nature of this manual and the way it was
written:
a. This is a reference manual — don't feel obliged to read it
from cover to cover. Look at the table of contents and see
what sections you are particularly interested in and just go
through them. If there are any terms that are unfamiliar to
you, that may have been defined in sections that you won't be
reading, look them up in the definition list in Appendix P.
b. For the sections that you do read, you don't have to follow
what is written there word for word. Though the manual was
written to be applicable to any campus, some of the suggestions
contained herein may be peculiar to the bureaucracy at the
University of Illinois while others, not included, may be
needed for your own campus. Also the organization of the
blood program contained in this manual is not the only possible
one for a successful program. You can use your own creative
skills to organize a program for your own campus, using this
one as a model or reference.
c. Since the Red Cross will frequently be the drawer on campuses,
this booklet has been written with the intention that the Red
Cross will be the drawing agency at the central c ampus drives .
With a few minor modifications the description can accomodate
any other blood drawing agency. Also, there are numerous
differences in the operations of the various Red Cross Blood
Centers, so even for a Red Cross Blood Center there will be
differences from this manual.
d. A large emphasis in this manual is made on having dormitory
blood drives. The reasoning for this is that students donate
often in their dorm because of peer influence and convenience.
They know that they are near their rooms if they should have a
reaction, or want to get a book while they wait. The atmosphere
is more informal, and they can witness the procedure for
drawing blood and see how relatively little it hurts. As an
added advantage, there are many first time donors in these
dorm drives and these people can add significantly to the
donor population bases.
e. In describing the procedures for running a dormitory blood
drive, it is assumed that a smaller blood drawing agency,
other than the Red Cross, will handle this. In our experience
dorm drives only produce approximately 60 pints a day for a
three day drive, at most 100 per day, and the Red Cross may
find this uneconomical. A small or flexible agency such as a
local blood bank might not have as many expenses in setting up
a dorm blood drive. (Our dorms have about 1000 residents.)
One final word: if you are attempting to organize a blood
program (that need not be as elaborate as the one described in
this manual) DO NOT MAKE A HALF-HEARTED ATTEMPT. You must be
sincere about organizing it. You will have to see many people
in your university to get the needed approval and cooperation
to set up your program. If they see that you don't really care
if the program gets off the ground, they will not take the
time to be as eager or cooperative to help you. Also, there
usually will be organizations and persons already involved in
some way or with experience in blood collection programs;
these people will have something to offer and may want to help
you.
Note on Language:
If you have already gone through and skimmed the manual, you may
have come across two words that you've never seen before and probably
won't find in a dictionary — te and ter. Te is equivalent to he/she
and ter is equivalent to his/her and him/her. In the course of writing
this manual we found that him/her or he/she were very awkward to write —
let alone read so I adopted the above genderless words. Getting used to
their meaning and function in a sentence won't be too hard if you subcon-
sciously think of te as being "he" and ter as being "her" ~ each gender
getting represented equally in the use of pronouns.
INGREDIENTS FOR SUCCESS
What are the essential ingredients for success? Student interest
in the blood collection program; administration support; a flexible and
knowledgable blood bank recruiter: without all of these, the program
While every situation is somewhat different, several features of
the blood programs we are familiar with seem important :
The program should be run by students who help arrange the dates
for the drives, recruit and organize the student volunteers, and recruit
donors from the student, faculty, and staff population; this is in
contrast to a program run essentially by the drawing agency that recruits
volunteers from the campus. Placing more responsibility in the student
staff jobs in the blood program will make them much more rewarding; it
means more people available for the task at hand; it means better reference
with other students and it means more access to the campus resources.
However, this approach does mean more work, and requires some understanding
of blood banking on the part of the students.
An ongoing student organization can provide continuity for the
program. Many students, especially those in the health related cirriculums
are very interested in joining and working with such a group.
Emphasis should be placed on education , not motivation , in advertising.
Decisions to participate, in an activity for the public good should be
made by well-informed individuals who feel they are making their own
decisions. Playing on guilt, telling people everyone should give, or
appealing to emotionalism, e.g., "this little girl would die" or "Dracula
will get you if you don't give", are undesirable and unnecessary. If
donors feel they have made their own decision, they will continue to
give more readily.
The program must be donor orientated . Presenting the act as an
opportunity, not a duty, encourages donors. Donating blood should be
viewed as a valuable activity for the donor, as well as for the potential
recipient. Many people like to give blood — to help others, to overcome
personal fear, etc. It should be the goal of the program to give as
many people as possible an opportunity to donate — the right to give as
expressed in The Gift Relationship . (Richard Tittmus, Pantheon Books, 1971)
The blood program that you are trying to develop should encourage
individuals to give for their own reasons. The need for blood should
accurately be presented and donors should be invited to participate if
they feel that this is the way in which they would like to help other
people. Altruism is the most common motivation for donors on campuses.
However, it must be recognized people give blood for a wide, almost
unbelievable variety of reasons from "wanting to know my blood type" to
"helping others" to "free cookies and coke." Any reason that does
not adversely affect the health of the recipient or donor, or the cost
of the blood, is legitimate. As a practical matter, then, no one
ideology — even altruism — should be stressed.
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GOALS OF THE PROGRAM:
A SAFE. PLENTIFUL. LOW-COST AND DEMAND-RESPONSIVE
BLOOD SUPPLY
The ultimate goals of the blood program committee and the blood
drawing agency are those of the donor and the recipient : to have a
plentiful, safe, low-cost, and demand-responsive supply of human blood
for transfusion. These are the goals of the National Blood Policy as
enunciated by the United States Department of Health, Education and
Welfare, and also the goals of every responsible blood bank.
College campus collections satisfy well these criteria:
A volunteer blood supply will be safe . It is estimated nationally
that ten to fifteen percent of the units of blood now supplied are
purchased. The greater incidence of post-transfusion hepatitis in
recipients of purchased blood than in recipients of voluntarily donated
blood has been established, and has received much attention. Everyone
agrees a reduction in the incidence of hepatitis will be of great value.
Estimates count 3,500 to 35,000 deaths annually. Other costs are distri-
buted over tens of thousands of non-fatal cases, and these costs include
the suffering of these individuals, costs of their medical care and
communities loss of earnings, and other tangible and intangible exter-
nalities. Hospitals switching to an all-volunteer blood supply have
witnessed a decrease in hepatitis, but such a switch can be effected
only if sufficient, and this means increasing, supplies of volunteer
blood are available.
A volunteer blood supply will be plentiful . Donors who learn to
give blood simply because it is needed will do so when asked. Individual
benefits or rewards are usually not necessary, donors can be, and are,
motivated to give a great deal of blood in many locations without indi-
vidual benefit. Contract donors or private assurance, really insurance,
donors, who learn to give on a quid pro quo basis for blood assurance*
often have no motivation to give more than required, since promised
benefits to them will not increase. Appeals of altruism reach many
people who would not otherv/ise be motivated. In our pilot project half
of all donors did not know, even after they gave, that they were covered
under any blood plan for future benefits; and the only benefit that was
offered, blood assurance was guaranteed everyone, donor or not. Yet
these donors gave a mean 2.27 pints/year and 20 pints/hundred population/
year for an annual total of 7,000 units. The demand nationally, about 4
pints/hundred/year, can be met in large part by responsive campus
populations.
In fact, many blood banks draw assurance plan donors once a year or
even every two or four years, and at least one blood bank boasts that
its donors are drawn only every four or five years. The argument for
such an approach is basically that everyone should give blood, implying
that blood is a heavy burden that must be borne, and hopefully spread
out so it is not borne too heavily.
* (See Appendix C, Blood Assurance)
This view, and tl)e underutillzation of donors it leads to. Is not
tenable In our current situatioii because blood is still in inadequate
supply, so more units should be drawn, not less, and empirical evidence
demonstrates clearly that many donors receive strong personal satisfaction
from their donation and are positively motivated to continue.
A v olunteer blood supply will be low-cost . Recruiting donors
should be less expensive than buying blood. In Urbana, donors a few
years ago were phoned in and paid $25/plnt. In the current all-volunteer
program, the cost is perhaps $2-4/pint. These savings to the blood bank
help keep down the cost of blood. Recruiting altruistic donors is
effective because they are usually frequent repeaters. Elimination of
non-replacement fees for covered group members can reduce a patient's
bill for blood., A plentiful blood supply will result in fewer emergency
drawings: less outdating wastage resulting from less hoarding behavior;
less technician time spent in solicitation, etc., all of which can help
keep down the cost of blood.
A volunteer blood supply will be demand-responsive . Donors giving
according to need will come in when called upon — indeed, many feel
quite special when called. An emergency call is an opportunity, not a
demand; among donors who are rewarding themselves, it is not a burden.
Furthermore, education is effective among college students and the
donors will be expecting special appeals in July/August and during
December -January holidays, when blood supplies are least in balance with
demand. Weekly 'blood donation dates' can possibly be conducted.
THESE F^CTS
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WHY ARE COLLEGE CANPUSES SO IMPORTANT?
The populations of college campuses have a number of characteristics
which greatly facilitate blood collection programs:
Yet colleges and universities throughout the country are
underutilized. Increasing existing blood programs on campuses
will help meet the increasing need for safe blood. Currently,
perhaps 8% or so of blood collected comes from the campuses.
We feel much more than this amount can be provided from the 10
million college students.
, 56.4% of eighteen and nineteen year olds were in school in
1970 according to the Federal Census. Almost all of these are
in cojlege, in addition to a number of seventeen year olds and
some others who begin college at later ages. Thus, over a
period of years, a majority of all people in the United States
can be reached via campus programs.
College-age people are healthier than the general population,
hence more often eligible to be donors.
Flexible schedules facilitate donations with minimal loss of
work time.
Population concentration and campus media help optimize
advertising effectiveness.
Altruism among college students is well-established; it is the
dominant motive in the pilot project.
. Students are just coming of age to give; in the presence of
student-run, highly visible program, blood donation, like
voting and driving, can be looked forward to as a 'ritual of
initiation', becoming quite accepted.
Preliminary research indicates 45% of all donors gave their
first pint between the ages of 18 and 22.
A 'ripple effect' is predicted. That is, after a person
donates blood once or twice he is much more likely to donate
in the future than a person who is currently a non-donor.
Since the act of giving influences later acts of giving, that
is, inflates the expected lifetime donation distribution for
an individual, it is most effective in terms of total expected
future units per recruitment dollar to spend that dollar on
the youngest eligible population. This point is crucial —
like Britain, the United States is still relying upon WI^JII
donor.^ , and it will not be too much longer before their ranks
will be depleted.
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THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ALTRUISM
There is a major goal toward which a voluntary blood system can
contribute — altruism in this society. The issue of freedom to behave
altruistically and the role of social policy instruments in extending
and safeguarding that freedom is central to a blood collection system.
The social value of an individual's moral choice to give freely, not to
sell, and the role of agency and governmental policy encouraging or
discouraging such moral choices is the theme of The Gift Relationship by
Professor Richard Titmuss. No understanding of the blood collection
system as i_t exists today in the United States and as iJt could exist is
complete without an understanding of this book.
D. Mac N. Surgenor recognized in his article, "Human Blood and the
Renewal of Altruism" that "our policy on blood donation must be social
policy in Professor Titmuss' terms, not scientific or economic policy."
Dr. Aaron Kellner, the Director of the New York Blood Center, has
called attention to what may be a far more urgent social and moral force
for altruism, namely, the likelihood of a pending breakthrough in tissue
transplantation: "Surely we do not wish to bring human kidneys, eyes,
lungs, livers, and hearts into the marketplace!"
Kidney transplants are made now, and each transplant, of course,
requires a donor. But it is now unwritten policy at a transplant center
not to accept a kndney from a donor who is unrelated to the patient.
Altruism is not accepted as a legitimate motivation, despite the finding
that donors who sacrificed a kidney before the ban continue to have a
higher self-esteem, even in cases where the grafted kidney has ceased to
function or the recipient has died, and the donors did not expect or
want any reward other than that of a personal nature. Yet kidney donors
are now denied the right to give.
Titmuss argues convincingly for a right to give . He shows that
stifling altruism can lead to social evils. The hepatitis risk in paid
blood is believed to be primarily a result of the lying of paid donors
in answer to medical history questions. What is the social cost of
system that encourages people to be dishonest?
"To coerce a man is to deprive him of freedom. Yet, as (The Gift
Relationship ) has shown comparatively, private market systems in
the United States and other countries not only deprive men of
their freedom to choose to give or not to give but by so doing
escalate other coercive forces in the social system which lead to
the denial of other freedoms (and maybe life itself) to other men
who biologically are in no position to choose — the young and the
old, the sick, the excluded and the inept as well as the sellers of
blood." (Titmuss, 1971)
Without a renewal of citizen participation in modern health care
its costs can be expected to continue to rise along with peoples aliena-
tion from and resentment of health care agencies; blood donation is a
very necessary and concrete citizen participation.
11
Blood donation can be considered a good arena in which to develop
models of altruistic behavior; the experience of kidney donors shows that
such a model already has other applications.
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IMPORTANT TELEPHONE NUMBER LIST (abbr. ITNL)
(Name and Telephone Number)
1. Representative from the agency (s) that
will be drawing on your campus.
2. Person in charge of recruiting and
contacting local Red Cross Volunteers.
3. Head of local Red Cross Chapter.
4. Head of local blood drawing agency.
5. Person in charge of reserving rooms in
central campus building (student
union) .
6. Person in charge of reserving rooms in
other buildings on campus.
7. Person to talk to concerning the set
up of chairs and tables for the drive
in the central campus building.
8. Person to talk to concerning the set
up of chairs and tables for the drive
in other buildings on campus.
9. Person from whom refreshments should
be ordered for central campus drives.
10. Person in charge of campus parking.
Often parking permits are needed for
the blood drawing agency staff.
11. Person in charge of student health
service.
Need to keep this person informed of
all the blood drives so that te can
have a doctor on call.
12. Emergency room at student health
service.
13. Doctor on call for blood drives.
14. Ambulance firm.
Name Phone
This is needed in the case of a severe reaction to giving blood or an
accident.
13
Name Phone
15. Person in charge of the central campus
building.
Perhaps this person could donate or
give a discount on refreshments or
priority for room reservations.
16. Student newspaper.
Try to get one contact for publicity.
17. University mailing center.
This would be used for volunteer and
donor mailings.
18. Stenographic bureau.
Such a service would be used for
making flyers and letters to donors.
19. Publicity agent for university.
This person could help publicize your
blood program throughout the state
and give recognition to the donors.
20. University car pool.
A car or van to take people from the
drive site to the drawing agency may
be needed.
21. Any advisors to this blood program.
22. Head of university student housing.
This person usually must give permis-
sion for drives in the dormitories.
23. Resident Directors and blood drive ^
24. director of every dormitory and the
cafeteria in each dormitory.
Need to communicate with Resident
Directors and the cafeteria food
service in each.
Dormitory Resident Director Blood Drive Director Phone
14
Name Phone
25. Director of blood program.
26. Volunteer Relations chairperson.
27. Logistics chairperson.
28. Donor Relations chairperson. ________
29. Publicity chairperson.
30. Computer Services chairperson.
Other names and numbers you will need:
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
Note:
Putting all the names of your contacts and their phone numbers in one place
will probably save you time; you can photocopy these pages for use by others
in the blood program.
15
ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDENT BLOOD PROGRAM COMMITTEE
A large blood collection program will require a staff and a lot of
volunteers. This section was written with large campuses, say 10,000
or more students in mind. Persons from smaller campuses will get an
idea of the functions that need to be performed, but probably will not
want or need so many committees. The committee names and titles, of
course, make little difference.
A.
BLOOD PROGRAM DIRECTOR
This person is the key person in the operation of a blood program.
The Director is responsible for all the annual planning of the blood
program and once the program is underway te must hold regular meetings
with and check-up on all ter committees to make sure they are doing
what they should be and experiencing little difficulty. Te is thus
ulitmately responsible for the success or failure of the blood drives.
17
B. BLOOD PROGRAM COMMITTEES
There are five functions that are necessary for a highly efficient
blood program. They are:
Volunteer Relations
Donor Relations, including Research
Logistics
Publicity, including a Speaker Bureau
Computer Services, including a newsletter
subcommittee
Their descriptions follow below. (Computer Services is not essential if
you cannot get computer time. Its alternative will be discussed at the
end of this section.)
1. Volunteer Relations committee ^
This committee 'a primary responsibility is to contact, recruit,
and coordinate the volunteers for the blood drive. This includes:
a. Contacting and recruiting new volunteers at the beginning
of the semester (methods for doing this are discussed in the next section
under 'Volunteers').
b. Contacting and recruiting new volunteers throughout the
year.
c. Keeping track of all the volunteers and how many hours
they work (to be used for volunteer recognition at the end of the year).
d. Keeping volunteers inform.ed of the time, days, and loca-
tion of the blood drive by means of a volunteer manual or a newsletter
or both.
e. Giving feedback to the volunteers as to the success of
past drives.
f. Calling and scheduling volunteers before each drive.
g. Supervising the volunteers at the drive.
I
2. Donor Relations committee
This comittee's responsibilities are to recruit donors for the
drives by personally or individually (i.e., by mail or phone) communi-
cating with old donors: by encouraging additional pints from them and
18
asking them to recruit new donors. In addition, this committee tries to
provide as many services for the donor as possible. All these responsi-
bilities include:
a. Sending letters to all eligible donors with the dates and
location(s) of the drive, asking them to give blood again, and asking
them to help in the recruitment effort by asking their friends to give.
b. Calling and scheduling donors for each drive.
c. Updating the medical eligibility sign and sheets (if
necessary) .
d. Keeping lists of donors, temporarily disqualified donors,
those donors who have experienced discomfort, and those donors who made
appointments but didn't keep them for communication purposes after the
drive.
e. Handing out questionnaires to donors, perhaps annually,
regarding their motivation, their opinions of how the drive is being
run, etc. in the canteen area. This is the responsibility of the
Research subcommittee. (See Appendix J_ for an actual questionnaire and
its results.)
f. Having a person analyzing the statistics from the drive
such as number of first time donors, number of permanent rejects, etc.
(see Appendix N ) . This is another responsibility of the Research
subcommittee.
g. Keeping a complaint box in the canteen area and with the
help of the Director answering the complaints.
h. Providing educational material and information to both
donors and volunteers concerning areas of blood collection, and any
other pertinent information on blood.
i. Being in charge of distributing and collecting Christmas
and summer pledge cards (see Vacation Pledge Cards for more information
on this) .
j . Mailing to donors their Red Cross blood donor cards and
those of any other blood drawing agency that you may be working with.
3. Logistics committee
The primary concern of this committee is the physical arrange-
ments of the drive. This includes:
a. Reserving rooms for the drive.
b. Ordering refreshments.
19
c. Ordering parking permits,
d. Getting loaders and unloaders.
e. Giving the telephone numbers of a doctor on call and an
ambulance firm to the head nurse or bead technician at the drive.
f . Making arrangements for a car or van to transport donors,
if necessary.
4. Publicity committee
This committee is concerned with recruiting new donors directly
and using "public" information to primarily recruit new donors and
secondarily remind old donors of the upcoming blood drive. This includes:
a. Using as many of the possible types and kinds of media to
publicize the blood drive.
b. Getting the total pints collected every day during a blood
drive to the newspaper for the next day's publication.
c. Talking to organized housing such as fraternities, sorori-
ties, and dormitories about the giving of blood, what blood is used
for — generally educating potential donors. This is the responsibility
of the Speaker's Bureau subcommittee.
5. Computer Services comm ittee
This committee helps the other committees with maintaining
their specific lists of people (donors, temporary rejects, etc.). This
includes:
a. Computerizing the name, donor number (often the social
security number), blood type, and donation date of
1) Donors
2) Permanent and temporary rejects
3) Persons who didn't show up for their appointments
b. Computerizing the volunteer's name, donor number, and
number of hours worked.
c. Making up mailing labels or phone lists for any desired
group or subgroup of people that any of the other committees may want.
20
d. Helping the Research subcommittee of Donor Relations with
any lists of people they may need for statistics purposes.
e. Producing newsletters and specific blood drive announce-
ments for the other committees. This is the responsibility of the
Newsletter subcommittee.
6. Alternatives to Compu ter Services committee
If you cannot get ahold of computer assistance in storing and up-
dating the lists that the Donor Relations and Volunteer Relations have,
these tasks will have to be undertaken by those committees themselves.
This means that those two committees will need more committee people not
only to update and store volunteer information, but also to hand address
envelopes any time a mailing must be made. However, many programs do
not make mailings although we have found them highly effective.
The Newsletter subcommittee in this case can become a committee
by itself.
21
C. SEf,i;r;TI.ON OF DIRECTOR
The JJrst thing to do In prepar.it ion for the upcoming year';, blood
program i;. Lo select the director of the blood program. If the upcomin,",
year Is Llio f i rst year for your blood program then anyone who Is orga-
nizing it could, upon mutual agreement with all others organizing the
program, become the director, but if the blood program has been in
operation for a while then the procedures following might be utilized in
the selection of that director. It is necessary that any procedures
claimed for selection of directors and chairpersons both be understood
by the volunteers and actually followed. This is just fair play.
Generally only the committee chairpersons or their committee people
will apply for the directorship. The Director should have no problem
evaluating any chairperson's performance in the past year, but the
committee members' evaluation might be more difficult since the Director
probably will not have had direct contact with them. For these applicants,
te must rely on the committee chairperson's evaluation of how involved
each candidate had been throughout the year and how te interacted with
the other committee members.
It would be highly desirable, for the blood program director to
have as many of the following characteristics as possible:
1. Must be a person who likes to organize (the first few years of
your blood program will need a lot of it).
2. Must be prepared to devote considerable time to the program.
3. After the program runs for a few years, should be a person who
has been familiar with the program and actively involved in it.
4. Must be authoritative, yet must be able to work well with ter
committees.
5. If planning on summer drives, should be willing to stay on in
the summer to organize the summer drives.
6. Must be self-confident and responsible.
New director should be chosen by February so that the dates for the
next year's drives can be decided by the end of March. It is also
important to choose these drives early so that room reservations can be
made in the student union or wherever you are holding your drives.
The new director must take time to plan any changes te may want to
make the following year. Te should learn as much as possible about
blood programs, redefine the committees, if te wants, assemble a staff
for the following year, and find volunteers for any summer drives.
22
D. SELECTION OF COMMITTEE HEADS AND MEMBERS
When choosing committee heads, the Director must look to the person's
interest and past experience in the areas related to the committee te
chooses. Almost everyone who expresses a desire to be a committee
member can be put on a committee since there are always people who
unfortunately lose interest in their committees because of classes,
tests, etc., as the year progresses. It is important that the committee
be measurably larger to account for this, although it may initially be
somewhat more difficult for the committee head to coordinate ter members.
The committee heads should discuss what their committee goals and
tasks are with the Director first and then with ter committee members.
Though committee heads should be responsible for their committee members
and their tasks, the Director must take the final responsibility for
what is not done. It is therefore important to have a strong leader as
a committee head. Te can relieve a lot of the director's burden. If
the committee head lacks confidence or is not responsible enough, the
Director must maintain sufficient contact with that individual and ter
committee to insure that the tasks it is supposed to do are done. If
this continues for any length of time, the best procedure probably would
be to find a new committee head.
It is important to get younger class members involved in the com-
mittees, so that it will be easier to organize committees for the
following year. By the end of the year, there should be several younger
staff members being trained so that they are capable of carrying out all
of the blood drive tasks efficiently and perhaps even better than the
previous year.
23
E. VOLUNTEERS
V/hen you start your blood program at the beginning of a semester,
you will, or at le.•l^3t should have, the first drive during the first week
of classep. . iJut this poses a problem -- where are you golnj^*, to got the
volunteers for it? Unlike the other planning for the blood program,
volunteers cannot be arranged for the semester before the program starts
since students won't have any real idea of how hard a course load they
will be carrying that next semester and therefore will not want to
commit themselves to working with the blood program. If you want volun-
teers, you must be prepared to get them during the registration period
of your university, usually the week before classes start (and hence
also a week before the drive). You could do the following:
1. Talk with your university administration the semester before
and ask them for permission to have a table at a strategic location in
your place of registration (e.g., a place where all the students must
enter or leave) .
2. Put together a "volunteer manual" the semester before. An
example included in Appendices. This manual should include:
a. The times, dates, and locations for all the drives.
b. A detailed description of all the positions students may
fill for both Red Cross drives and other blood drawing agency drives you
may have.
c. A description of the blood program and perhaps what you
are trying to accomplish with it. Any benefits to the university com-
munity such as "blood assurance" should also be discussed. (Blood
assurance is discussed in Appendix JC.)
d. A procedure for the volunteers to call your blood program
office before a drive to volunteer to work. This calling should take
place at least five days before a drive so that in case there aren't
enough volunteers the Volunteer Relations committee can start phoning
some more volunteers.
3. Make up a donor eligibility sign (see Appendix D) and a sign
saying something to the effect of "Register here, volunteers and donors,
for the blood drive to be held at the Union from Sep 3 to Sep 5 from
24
10:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m." Place the donor eligibility sign next to your
table at the place of registration. A lot of people who really wouldn't
want to ask anyone behind the table about donating, lest they be pressured
into signing up, will read the sign just to see if they would be eligible
to give. If they are eligible, and not too scared, they might show up
at the drive as "walk- ins".
4. Get some people who are interested in organizing the blood
program (e.g., chalrpeople, director) to sit behind the table. They
should do several things:
a. Answer any medical questions the potential donors may
have that aren't answered by the sign with the more extensive donor
eligibility guideline sheets (see Appendix jE) .
b. Sign up volunteers for the drive using the volunteer
schedule sheets (see Appendix F^) and give them the volunteer manual.
c. Sign up any volunteers who would like to work on any of
the committees that you will have.
d. Sign up donors using the donor schedule sheets (see
Appendices F and G) and give remainder slips telling dates, times
and place of donation.
J fit V^j ST
nsmi
CENTRAL CAMPUS DRIVES
A central campus drive is what we call the normal blood drive — a
big, 100-300 unit a day mobile operation set up in a gym, student union,
or other central campus area that has high traffic and high visibility.
A. ANNUAL PLANNING (CENTRAL CAMPUS DRIVE)
1. You should start planning in the first few weeks of the semester
preceding the semester in which you wish to start drawing donors. In
setting up the drawing dates good communication is extremely important.
Make sure that all affected and interested parties are represented when
the blood drive dates and other specifics are decided upon. In particular
this should include the representative of the Red Cross whose number you
may have written down on the Important Telephone Number List (ITNL #1)
the person in charge of recruiting the local Red Cross volunteers (ITNL
#2), the Director of (or the person trying to organize) the university
blood program (ITNL //25) , and any interested persons who want to be
involved in the program. The names and phone numbers of these people
could already be gathered and entered in the telephone list. All dates
should be agreed upon to some large degree of satisfaction by all
involved and should be confirmed in writing, if possible, among all the
parties involved.
a. When selecting dates, the following factors must be taken
into consideration:
1) Try to have a big drive every month to give donors
frequent chances to donate. Also large drives are essential to maintain
program visibility, and blood agencies need a steady supply of blood.
2) Since donors are eligible to give blood eight weeks
after they have last given, drives might be spaced so that the donor
pool that gives at the first drive is eligible to give again at the
third drive, and so that the second drive donors are eligible for the
fourth drive, etc.
3) Student schedules (holidays, vacations, finals,
etc.) must be considered. Exam weeks and periods when students are not
present are obviously poor drawing dates; also the several days immediately
preceding vacations are poor dates.
4) Try to provide blood drives at times when blood will be
especially needed (before holidays, etc.).
5) Two and three day drives near the end of the week
are the best (weekdays only) . The second and third days of a drive are
generally better since publicity by word of mouth builds up pint donations.
6) Availability of the bloodmobile site must be also
considered; but this should be no real problem ±f^ you start planning a
semester ahead.
27
b. When trying to find a suitable location for the drive,
several factors must be considered, such as: campus student traffic,
centralized location, visibility and availability of site, size of rooms
(must be large enough), facilities, atmosphere (temperature regulation,
pleasant, well-lit, no bugs, etc,)- Some minor considerations are:
ease for loaders and unloaders (are there many stairs?), parking spaces,
and a nearb}' telephone for emergencies, communication purposes, and
appointments. See Appendix K for a complete checklist of considera-
tions.
Ideal places are rooms in the student union, a well-lit
gym, or any other large room with the above characteristics near the
center of student activity during the day. Location is very important
for a successful blood program. Both volunteers and donors shouldn't
have to go too far from their normal traffic pattern to participate in
the program.
c. In terms of goal (desired number of pints to be collected)
for each drive, this depends tremendously on where you decide to have
the bloodmobile, the effectiveness of your publicity, as well as a host
of other variables. If you have never had a drive at a particular
location, let the Red Cross make a guess as to how many pints they could
draw after they analyze any facts that you can give them about student
traffic by the location as well as the location's visibility. Only
after the first year of operation could you get a feel for the number
of pints that could be collected at a particular location taking into
account variables such as visibility of site, traffic by site, time of
academic year (mid-terms, finals), ^nd even the seasons of the year.
d. Times for the drive ijiust also be decided upon. This will
have to depend upon the traffic pattern in the building that you're in.
Having a blood drive in your student union last through 6:30 p.m. when
most of the students leave 4:30 p.m. to go home to eat dinner would of
course be foolish. Times are again a matter of experience, but our
experience was that from 10:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. are just about the best
for our drives. The rationale for starting 15 minutes after the hour is
that classes usually end at 10 minutes before the hour and this extra 15
minutes gives donors and volunteers 25 minutes to reach the bloodmobile
site at the beginning of the drive. Also at the end of the day, the
extra 15 minutes will mean that more donors will have a chance to get to
the bloodmobile site after their 3:00-4:00 p.m. classes end and give
blood. Some agencies may be willing to draw longer hours or be flexible.
e. Wlien you have the meeting with your blood bank representa-
tive, make sure that both of you tour the facility in which you will be
setting up the bloodmobile and have that person sketch where te would
like to have the different stations and also have ter give you the
number of tables and chairs, waste cans, and coat racks tliat te would
like to have. Take this plan, make a few xeroxes, keep a couple copies
for yourself, and give a copy to the maintenance staff that will have to
set up the chairs and tables (IT'NL #7 or 8).
f. Talk to your blood bank representative and see what they
will supply for each drive in terms of coffee, juice, punch, cream,
sugar, cookies, pretzels, hot and cold cups, napkins, spoons, etc. if
28
o
^
the campus administration or student union will not provide thein free.
Different agencies will have different preferences as to what they can
conveniently and cheaply bring and what they would like the campus to
provide.
Also ask the agencies what positions, such as medical
history, canteen worker, etc., on the bloodmobile will be provided for
them. Some of these positions can only be done by the nurses that a
local Red Cross chapter tries to recruit. The other ones can be done by
college volunteers.
g. Drawing agencies have many aids to help you attract
donors to the bloodmobile. Inquire about them. Some of these include
such things as many different multicolored posters, fliers, and even
newspaper inserts that can have your entire schedule of drives printed
on them.
The Red Crosses, and some other agencies also, also have
many nice little things for a donor after te gives, like "Be nice to me,
I gave blood today" stickers, little blood drop pins, and for the more
experienced donor, gallon donor pins, and decals. This all may seem
trivial, but it serves an important purpose. It gives the donor recogni-
tion for what te has done and it also publicizes the drive.
h. Talk to the blood bank representative about a "blood
assurance" plan for your university community (see Appendix iC) . In
brief blood assurance means that if any member of your university com-
munity (students, faculty, or staff) or ter immediate family receives
blood, te will not have to recruit donors to replace the pints used or
pay a replacement fee. Depending on how many pints you can expect to
draw, the coverage could even be extended to the larger family of the
university community, say, retired faculty and staff.
1. Reservations for the rooms that you would like usually
must be made very far in advance. If you want a room in your student
union, chances are that a lot of other groups and organizations would
.also like to have them. But since you have six or seven months before
your first drive, chances are that you will be first in line for the
rooms. Contact the person in charge of reserving rooms in the building
that you will be drawing in (ITNL #5 or 6) and make your reservations.
j . Now is not too early a time to think about providing
refreshments. If you can talk to the person in charge of your union
(ITNL #15) and tell ter of your plans for the blood drive, perhaps te
may provide all your refreshments at a discount or even free from the
union's food service.
In any case ask the person the procedure for placing an
order for the refreshments for the drive. Get the name of the person
responsible for placing your order and ter phone number (ITNL //9). To
give you an example of how much has to be ordered the following is the
amounts and kinds of refreshments needed for a drive that expects about
200 donors:
5 gallons coffee
10 gallons ice water
10 cases of 28 oz. Coke
100 dozen cookies (4 cookies per donor. Most are eaten
by volunteers!)
30
Don't forget to order also hot and cold cups, napkins,
spoons, cream and sugar.
k. Talk to the person in charge of parking (ITNL #10) and
see if you can get some agreement to get special parking permits and
parking places designated for the nurses at the drive. Often the nurses
don't know the area. They will have a hard time finding parking places
and they won't be able to run out to feed the parking meters before the
meters expire.
Also see if you can get permission to get the Bloodmobile
truck parked somewhere outside the building and in the thick of the
student thoroughfare, this is great publicity for the blood drive.
1. Once your blood program is in operation, you are going to
have to have some room where you can store all the records of your
program, the signs from the drive, and many other miscellaneous things,
and a phone that interested donors and volunteers can call to make
appointments and from which committee people can call donors and volun-
teers. This phone number should be a stable one as many donors will
remember and use it. The importance of appointments is discussed in the
introduction and in Appendix B^.
m. The head nurse at the drive will ask you for the phone
number of a doctor on call and an ambulance firm. An ambulance firm
will probably be no problem, but finding a doctor who would be on call
may be harder. Check with your health service and see if they can help
you or with neighborhood hospitals if they would be willing to offer
such a service for your program.
n. Talk to the administration of your university and see if
they would let you have some computer time and space to store all the
various data, listed in this manual, that will make for a fairly sophis-
ticated blood program. Discuss the blood program primarily in terms of
community service. The administration may well be interested in blood
assurance as well, as this is commonly seen as a fringe benefit. The
software for the type of filing you will need to do is described in
Appendix L. The Appendix also describes where you can write to obtain
the software programs.
2. Physical set up at the drive (large Red Cross mobile) :
a. A brief list of the stations and what is done at each is
below (a more extensively described list is in a later section) .
1) Receptionist — registers all donors, answers
questions on eligibility to give blood, handles donor flow, registers
volunteers, and shows volunteers who to go to to be assigned and ex-
plained jobs.
31
volunteers) .
2) Typists — fill out registration form for donor.
3) Temperature takers — take temperature and weight.
4) Blood pressure (performed by local Red Cross Chapter
5) Medical histories (performed by local Red Cross
Chapter volunteers) .
6) Bottle labeling (performed by local Red Cross
Chapter volunteer) .
7) Escorts to donor table — take donor and ter blood
container to drawing tables.
8) Donation — the Red Cross nurse handles this.
9) Walkers — escorts from drawing table to canteen
area.
10) Canteen area — donor is requested to stay here and
eat and drink for about 15 minutes to see if te has any reactions to ter
giving blood.
11) Segmenting machine — the tubing from pint of blood
must be segmented (the Red Cross takes care of this) .
12) Lab sheet typist — all donors are listed on a Red
Cross tally sheet (the local Red Cross Chapter handles this, but students
may also do it) .
b. Equipment that must be present at each drive:
1) Typewriters — not all Red Crosses require that the
registration form must be typed; some will allow neat block printing.
If done legibly, this is quieter and has fewer mistakes.
2) Pens and paperclips.
3) Name tags for volunteers and supervisors — these
help to recognize the volunteer and help the supervisor to be able to
call volunteers by their first name. Also if any problems come up, the
volunteers and the nurses both will know who the supervisor is.
4) All the donor schedule sheets, volunteer schedule
sheets, and supervisor schedule sheets (for examples of the first two
see Appendix jF) .
5) Donor eligibility sign with a more complete donor
eligibility guideline sheet — the sign is to be placed in front of the
receptionist's table so that it attracts people. Since it tells the
major eligibility requirements not as many questions will be asked of
the receptionist.
32
6) Canteen area supplies — magazines, donor question-
naires, crayons and paper for inspired donors to draw with (some drawings
are so creative, they can be used for publicity; many drawings in this
book were from canteen tables), Christmas and summer pledges, and recogni-
tion items such as "Be nice to me, I gave blood today" stickers, gallon
donor pins, etc.
7) Custodian supplied items:
a) Coat racks and hangers for volunteers and
donors.
b) Mop, broom, and bucket in case of accident or
clean up.
c) Extension cords — 25 and 50 foot.
d) Tables and chairs in quantities that the Red
Cross wants.
e) A few large trash cans.
c. Procedures to be developed for the drive:
1) A way of labeling the stations so donors know where
to go.
2) A way of keeping the donors in the order that they
registered. This can be done by numbering the registration cards in the
upper left hand corner from 1 to however many donors show up at the tem-
perature station. This is especially useful when there is a backup at
medical histories and some donors get stuck waiting for longer than they
should while others "push" their way to the front of the waiting line.
3) A way of keeping track of volunteers and the times
they worked. This can be done by having volunteers register at the
receptionist's desk before and after they work.
3. Cooperation with your local blood bank during the bloodmobile.
In some locations there will be a fixed facility blood bank,
either a community blood bank or the university hospital blood bank, for
example, that is willing and able to draw donors during periods when the
central campus drawing agency is overcrowded or closed. Generally, the
facility will have to be physically close to campus, have a strong need
for blood, and have a flexible, cooperative attitude to make this combina-
tion approach work.
More blood will be drawn and the donor will be convenienced if
this cooperation can be achieved.
In all likelihood you will find donors who would like to give
before their classes start in the morning (and consequently before the
drive) and those who would like to give after their classes are over
(and consequently after the drive). If you have a blood bank close to
33
your bloodmobile site there is something you can do to give these people
an opportunity to donate their blood. Borrow a private car or rent a
university car and drive these people over to the blood bank from let's
say 8:30-10:15 a.m. and 4:15 to 5:00 p.m. and then promise to drive them
back when they are finished.
You could also work out an arrangement with the blood bank to
have donors taken over there if the drive gets so bogged down with
donors that it is taking over an hour and a ha] f for a donor to go
completely through all the stations. This pre-supposes that the donor
won't mind going to the blood bank, but if you tell ter that it would
take less time to donate there rather than at this location (which
usually will be true), then te will probably be persuaded to go.
Also, another arrangement could be worked where if the blood
bank needs a particular type of blood desperately and the drive is
crowded, the receptionist could explain the situation to donors of that
blood type and ask if they wouldn't mind going to the blood bank and
donating there. If donors are told that their particular blood type is
needed immediately, generally do not mind going to another blood bank.
4. Summer Drives.
During the summer, the university you are at has a fraction of
its student population remaining on campus. This obviously affects the
blood drives you may want to have — not only in terms of the number of
pints collected but also in the availability of volunteers to work at
the drive.
If you do decide to hold a summer drive, you should do the
following:
a. Send a letter to all volunteers 1-2 months ahead of the
finals second semester telling them of the drive (s) during the summer
and asking them to help out if they are planning to stay on campus over
the summer. Ask them to send you their summer address and summer phone
number so you can contact them later.
b. Send a letter to all donors after the last blood drive.
1) Thanking them for the donations that they have made
over the year.
2) Telling them they can give blood over the summer at
their home community blood bank.
3) Telling those who will be staying on campus over the
summer of the blood drive (s) you plan to have. (You must write them iiow
since a lot of people change their residence at the end of the second
semester.)
34
c. Set up a table at summer school registration where donors
and volunteers can sign up to give blood and work respectively.
Although this drive is smaller, the procedure for it is
the same as it was for the regular school year.
5 . Faculty and staff participation in the blood program.
Throughout this booklet, recruiting students over the course
of the year and during the summer has been very much emphasized. But
what about the faculty and staff that can make up to twenty percent of
the university population? This segment of the population should be
included. Many of them would probably like to give blood.
In discussing the faculty's and staff's participation in the
blood program, mention should be made of one of the purposes of the
blood program: to provide blood to responsible agencies throughout the
entire year. But summer vacation and especially Christmas are times of
the year when blood donations are low and only a fraction of the normal
student population is on campus to help alleviate this biannual blood
shortage. The answer lies in the faculty and staff. If they are actively
solicited to give blood during the Christmas and summer vacation periods,
they will respond very well to help avert the shortages of blood that
usually occur during these times.
If your university town has a local blood bank, then perhaps a
letter could be sent through campus mail to all faculty and staff telling
them of the need for blood over vacation periods and seeing if they
would like to be available to give their blood over these periods (an
example of this letter is in Appendix 0) . If they would, they could
fill out a coupon in the letter v/lth their name, address, phone number
and blood type and mail it to the blood program office. These pledges
to give blood can then be taken to the blood bank which then calls the
prospective donor at such a time as te is needed. The blood banks have
been very appreciative of these pledges, since they represent a source
of already committed donors willing to give blood. A very high percen-
tage of these donors respond when called, and this helps the blood banks
at the time of year when they need blood the most.
If there is no blood bank in your community, the faculty and
staff can still become involved. You can have a special Red Cross blood
drive just for them over Christmas and you can have them donate at the
summer Red Cross blood drive along with the students. You should still
send them the letter described above along with the dates and times of
the drive, but instead of filling out a pledge to give blood, have them
fill out an appointment for a specific time and day if they would like
to donate and have them send it in to your blood program office.
35
6. Christ mas and summer pledge cards.
Students are usually faithful donors. One problem, though, is
the fact that they are often out of reach of their regular drawing
agency during Christmas and summer vacation — times which traditionally
experience blood shortages. The pledge card project attempts to connect
vacationing student donors with nearby drawing agencies during these
critical periods.
The pledge card asks the student to give a pint of blood over
the vacation in ter hometown, if called. Tlie blood drawing agency that
receives a filled-out pledge card knows that the donor is expecting to
be called and willing to give if needed. The agency will have the
student's most up-to-date vacation address and local phone number, as
well as the dates te will be available.
The following steps summarize the most successful procedure
among those we have used:
a. Cards are distributed at the canteen of each blood drive.
It is best if each student is handed one individually.
b. Collect cards at end of drive — boxes on table provide
easy method for donors to return cards.
c. Sort cards — know the geographical area covered by each
drawing agency in your state.
d. Mail cards off — make sure the agencies will receive
them a day or two before students are likely to arrive in the area.
Things to watch: Some agencies may balk at having "their"
donors give to another agency during the vacations. Such possessiveness
cuts down the short-term and long-term supply of blood and should be
discouraged.
When more than one agency is operating in an area arrange to
have them share cards. Both agencies are part of the supply system, and
thus both deserve help. Further, two agencies working on the same cards
may result in a higher response rate from the donors.
Have the response from the donor noted on the card by the
agency when the donor is called. If the donor has made an appointment,
have the agency note if te shows and gives. This allows you to compile
statistics to give credit to the campus blood programs and to see if
enough cards are being used to make Lhe project worthwhile.
A separate booklet is available from the Blood Donor Research
Group called "Pledge Card Projects for Holiday Blood Donations." It
includes sample pledge cards and posters, a full description of the
project, and a discussion of our experience with pledge cards.
36
7. At the end o f the year.
Thanks and recognition should be given to all who are deserving.
This includes all your volunteers and donors, all of the local Red Cross
volunteers, all university officials who have helped you, and any other
persons and organizations who contributed their time, effort, goods, or
services to the drives. This can be simply done by writing a letter to
the editor of your college newspaper or taking an ad out in the newspaper.
Special recognition sliould be made to those volunteers who put
in an exceptional amount of time for the drives and all those donors who
have donated one gallon or more of blood in their blood donatinj', career.
The new Director should have long ago been chosen and (rained
by the "old" one, new committee heads shoiild liave been chosen, and most
of the arrangements for next year's drives should have been already
made. Planning for a summer drive should have started.
The "old" Director should get together with ter "old" committee
heads, evaluate the year's effort and make any suggestions on how to
improve the blood program to the new staff.
(^IV£ AS WELL AS
REClEVETH/5
YEAn:
OO.MATE
38
B. PER DRIVE PLANNING (CENTRAL CAMPUS DRIVE)
1. .Things to do BEFORE the drive.
a. Logistics committee:
1) Check to see that the room is still reserved one
week before.
2) Order refreshments one week before.
3) See to it that parking permits are ordered one week
before;
a) For Red Cross nurses.
b) For local Red Cross Chapter volunteers.
c) For the Red Cross Bloodmobile truck to park on
the central thoroughfare of campus.
4) See to it that 4 to 5 people will be present an hour and
a half to 2 hours before the drive to unload the Bloodmobile truck (and
also an hour after the drive stops accepting donors on the last day to
load the truck up). This should be settled a couple days before the drive.
5) Make sure you know the telephone numbers of a doctor
on call and an ambulance firm to give to the head nurse at the start of
the drive.
6) Make sure you know where you can get all of the
following a couple days before the drive; they must be brought to the
drive on the first day:
Typewriters, pens, paperclips, nametags, donor-volunteer-supervisor
schedule sheets, donor eligibility sign, guideline sheets, magazines,
"Be nice to me" stickers, gallon pins and decals, questionnaires
(if any), and crayons and drawing paper.
7) Make arrangements to get a private car or university
car to drive people over to the local blood bank a week before.
b. Volunte er Relatio ns committee:
1) Make up the volunteer schedule sheets one and a half
weeks before (see Appendix F) .
2) If you don't have a volunteer manual, start phoning
volunteers a week before the drive to schedule them for it (see Appendix
H).
3) If you have a volunteer manual, have someone sit by
the phone to collect volunteer names. This job should be coordinated
with Donor Relations (see Appendix H) .
39
4) If you are not getting enough volunteers two or
three days before the drive, start phoning them up (see Appendix H) .
5) You could send a newsletter to all volunteers one
week before the drive to recruit them or even after the drive to tell
them how the drive went, to get some of the volunteers to join committees,
be assigned to special projects (pledge cards), or to be recruited for
the next drive (see Appendix M) .
6) You should have supervisors assigned for the dif-
ferent times of the drive (and have only one in charge at a time) a
couple days before the drive.
C. nnnnr Bplations rnmmif fppr
1) A letter should be received by all eligible donors a
week to a half week before the bloodmobile telling tlicm the particulars
about the drive (see Appendix M) . Once or twice a semester may be as
often as this should be done*
2) Make up the donor schedule sheets 1 1/2 weeks before
the drive (see Appendix F^) .
3) Have someone answer phones for donors to call in
their appointments one to one half week before the drive. Again coor-
dinate with Volunteer Relations (see Appendix H) .
4) If the sign-ups are a little slow, then have your
committee people start phoning eligible donors from previous donor lists
about two days before the drive (see Appendix H) .
5) Make sure the donor eligibility sign is updated (if
it has to be) a few days before the drive.
d. Publicity committee:
1) The following is a list of ideas for publicity — by
no means is this list the only sources you might use:
a) Daily college newspaper. (See examples. Appendix Q)
I. Ads to be run one or two days before and
each day of the drive.
II. Feature articles — the Publicity committee
can try to arrange for these; however the best way to get articles is to
know people on the newspaper staff. Also inviting reporters to the
first big drive helps.
III. Editorials.
IV. Letters to the editor.
40
V. A blood thermometer — try to get the
newspaper to give you a small area on the front page for each day of the
drive and the day after for a thermometer showing the number of pints
collected relative to the program's yearly goal. This means that
someone must call the newspaper's office each day after the drive ends
to let them know how many pints were collected.
b) Other campus newspapers and magazines, perhaps
appealing to more specific campus groups, should also be utilized.
c) Red Cross can possibly print up posters, etc,
d) The Red Cross also has some recruitment films.
pamphlets, etc.
e) The official school calendar should be sent the
list of blood drive dates and locations.
f) If there are organizations that sponsor movies,
see if they would help publicize the drive by showing a slide with the
date, location and times of the drive on it right before they show their
movies.
g) You can have leaflets and fliers printed up
and, along with the Red Cross posters, put up in university buildings,
dormitories, and stores in the campus area.
h) Leaflets can be sent to all floor resident
advisors with a note asking them to post flyers on their floor and
encourage their floor to donate. Perhaps this could also be done for
the fraternities and sororities.
i) Volunteers could also do some publicity work.
Wlien a volunteer receives notification of an approaching drive from the
Volunteer Relations committee, perhaps te should receive 5 or 6 fliers
to post or distribute, and te could be asked to tell ter friends about
the drive and to encourage them to donate.
j) Radio stations — many allot a certain amount
of time to Public Service Announcements. Perhaps a tape could be
prepared for distribution to radio stations.
k) Blood Program T-shirts for volunteers and
donors might be a means of advertising and simultaneously providing much
needed recognition for these people for their contribution to the program.
The front could have the blood program insignia with the back having the
person's blood type.
2) Make sure that everything that the committee decides
to do is done well ahead of the drive since many of the media, organizations,
and businesses have to have a minimum of a week or two to do whatever
you want them to do.
3) Establish a speaker's bureau. This group of com-
mittee people will be responsible to go to organized housing such as
fraternities and sororities and dorms to speak about a blood drive
41
coining up. This is a good way to publicize the drive and at the same
time inform the donor and potential donor about some facts on blood and
the process of giving blood.
e. Computer Services coimnltteej
1) This coiranittee will make up computer printed labels
for any desired group or subgroup of people that any of tlie committees
would want for either letter purposes or phone lists.
2) The Newsletter subcommittee will work with the
Director, Donor Relations and Volunteer Relations in writing the letters
to donors and volunteers. A sample Newsletter is in Appendix M.
f . Director.
T}ie Director's role should be supervisory in nature once
the blood drive is going. Te should make sure everybody is doing what
they should be and if any conimittee is having some difficulty, te should
help them out. But there are some things that a Director can only do
terself such as:
1) Talk to the person in charge of the local Red Cross
Chapter volunteers to make sure that everything is in order.
2) Talk to the person in charge of setting up the Red
Cross drive to make sure everything is in order.
3) Monitor the progress of the blood program and
propose modifications where necessary.
4) Formulate all public statements — policy and
progress.
2. Things to do AT the drive:
a. Logistics qoinrpittee — all these things must be done on
the first day of the drive before it begins:
1) Make sure that tlie Red Cross nurses, chapter volun-
teers, and Bloodmobile truck have their parking permits and are parked
in their reserved spots.
2) Make sure unloaders have come.
3) Make sure the refreshments are at the drive.
4) Make sure the room is set up as it should be.
5) Make sure the university or private car has been
brought to the drive and parked in its reserved spot.
42
6) Have someone give the head nurse the telephone
number of a nearby doctor on call, the telephone number of an ambulance
firm, and the location of the nearest phone (and directions on how to
use it if it is a university phone) .
7) Take the typewriters, paperclips, and a few pens to
the typists' station.
8) Take the name tags, a few pens, donor-volunteer-
supervisor schedule sheets, donor eligibility sign and eligibility
guidelines to the receptionist station.
9) Take the "Be nice to me, I gave blood today" stickers,
gallon pins and decals, crayons and drawing paper, magazines, and
questionnaires (if any) to the canteen area.
b. Volunteer Relations committee:
1) If there aren't enough volunteers for the other days
in the drive, the coiranittee people will have to phone them.
2) Supervisor's Role — there must always be someone
present who is "in charge" and capable of answering questions.
a) A schedule of all supervisors is to be kept at
the reception desk so that the check- in person will know to whom to direct
any volunteers, questions or problems during the drive.
b) The supervisor is in charge of opening up the
drive and closing the drive at the end of the day.
c) Te should check in with the head nurse when te •
begins so that te will know who is supervising.
d) Te should arrive a little early so te can talk
to the previous supervisor to be informed of the situation as it
exists.
e) Te should have a name tag with ter name and
"supervisor" written on it and te should make sure all the volunteers
also have a name tag.
f) Te assigns jobs to those volunteers who don't
have one.
g) Once all volunteers have jobs, the supervisor
must give each volunteer instructions on what their particular station
needs to have done. (These instructions follow the supervisor's role).
h) These instructions should be given to the
volunteer each time; it is very easy to forget the details of what must
be done for each station even if the volunteer has done the task the day
befora.
43
i) Te helps the receptionist keep a list of who
worked and for how long. This could be used at the end of the year for
volunteer recognition.
j) Te must make sure that the flow of donors
doesn't get bogged down in any one
help in the congested areas.
k) Te should always remain cheerful and courteous
to all volunteers, nurses, and donors. Te should try to encourage
interaction between the volunteers and try to learn their names from
their name tags.
1) If te notices that a donor has been rejected,
te should talk to ter and if it is only a temporary rejection, encourage
ter to come back. Often would-be donors are quite upset and take their
rejection quite personally. Many blood banks use the terra 'de feral'
instead of 'reject'. If te is short on volunteers ask that person if te
would like to spend the hour te would have donated, volunteering. If
someone has been permanently rejected, make sure te understands why and
suggest that te become a blood drive volunteer if te would like to help
in that way.
m) Te should make sure that the donors are staying
in order. To do this te may have to have a volunteer stand at medical
histories (often the bottleneck of the bloodmobile) and call out the
numbers that the person at temperatures wrote on their registration
card.
n) Twenty minutes before the hour, the supervisor
should go around with the volunteer schedule list and check to see which
volunteers will be leaving, so that te will know where new volunteers
will have to be placed.
o) When volunteers leave te should make sure they
check out at the receptionist desk, so the time they worked can be
recorded,
p) If it looks like there are not enough volunteers
either see if the volunteers there could stay longer than the time they
signed up for or just redistribute the volunteers you do have to cover
the stations where they are needed most. The supervisor shouldn't be
afraid to help out terself where te is needed most.
q) The people on the volunteer schedule sheet
should be placed first; then the walk- in volunteers. Extra volunteers
could be put on walking donors and talking to donors on the drawing
table.
r) If the local Red Cross Chapter is short of
volunteers, the student volunteers could help out (only on lab sheet
typing and bottle labeling) .
44
s) It is not good to have too many volunteers,
since it is important that all volunteers feel that they are needed.
t) The donor is the major concern — making the
experience as pleasant as possible and getting ter through the donation
line as quickly as possible.
u) It is good to have an overlap of old and new
volunteers for a few minutes so that the newcomer has time to adjust to
the task.
v) Keep communications with the blood bank open
if the blood drive becomes crowded with donors.
w) At the end of the day the supervisor should
fill out whatever forms the head nurse has for ter (number of donors
scheduled and number of volunteer hours) .
x) If there are any items outside the donor room,
they should be taken inside at the end of the drive day so they won't be
lost.
3) Receptionist (Check-in) (1-2 required for a drive of
about 200 donors/day) .
a) The receptionist should be able to answer
donors' questions or at least be able to refer the donor to someone who
can. (The medical questions not answered by disqualification sheets
should be taken to the head nurse) .
b) This person will be taking appointments for the
day's drive and marking donors' names off as they arrive. Donors should
then be directed to the typists. If the local blood bank is looking for
certain blood types, donors with that type (who are willing) should be
drawn there.
c) Donors wanting appointments for the next day(s)
of the drive can have them written down on the spot, or they can be given
the blood program telephone number.
d) Walk-in donors can be taken as the situation
permits; this is where the check- in person's judgment is important. Too
many donors taken at once will create a bottleneck inside the drawing
rooms and result in longer waiting lines and frustrated donors (see
Appendix G^) . If it seems to be crowded inside, ask the donor to go to
the local blood bank, if this is being done, or to come back in a few
minutes (if you think it will be cleared out then) , or to make an
appointment for the next day. This ability to judge the situation comes
from experience at the drives, so it is generally a good idea to have a
volunteer who has worked at the drives before as a receptionist.
e) New volunteers should check-in here and be
directed to the supervisor. When the volunteer finishes working te
should check-out here also, so there is an accurate record of the number
of hours that te has worked.
45
f) This person will be in charge, of keeping track
of how many prospective donors show up at the drive on the tally sheets
prepared by the Red Cross (head nurse has these) .
g) When the receptionist is not busy, te can
talk to people who have finished donating to get some estimate of how
fast donors are getting out. Ideally, it would be less than an hour;
realistically, it is usually one to one and one-half hours,
4) Typists (2-3).
If a donor has a plastic Red Cross donor card, te
should go to the person at the card machine. If the donor does not have
a plastic card, a typist should complete a registration form with the
following information:
a) Type the LAST NAME first in all capitals, then
the first name, and don't forget the donor's middle initial.
b) Type p>ermanent address. This has nothing to do
with using campus address for voting purposes. Either campus or out-of-
town address can be used, although most will be off-campus. Don't
forget to include the zip code!
c) Home telephone — use the phone number at
permanent address; however, the donor's local phone number should also
be typed in if the donor's permanent address is off campus so the donor
can be recruited by phone, if necessary.
d) Wliere employed — type "student" if student, or
"faculty", etc...
e) Group identification — if an out-of-town
address was given above, but campus address here.
f) Chapter — usually blank forms have been run
through the card machine with this information along with the date.
g) Date — fill it in if it hasn't been run
through the machine. Use numerical form for date.
h) Date of birth — use numbers, e.g. 1/5/54.
i) Social security number — this must be typed
into the "remarks" box on the right hand side of the registration form
for Red Cross purposes. It must also be put into the "Replacing f or"
space for donor coding purposes .
j) Sex
k) The donor must sign the registration form, and
any donor cards should be paper clipped to the front of the card.
1) If donor hands you a card from another blood
bank, you can use this to type the basic information. Long names are
easier to copy than to listen to.
m) Replacement forms are also generally kejJt at
this table. A donor wishing to credit his pint of blood to someone else
must provide the name of the patient, where and when the patient was
hospitalized and the address of the patient. All requested information
must be obtained so that credit for blood can be sent.
n) Typists should give the donor ter registration
card and show ter where the coat racks are and instruct ter to go to the
temperature station.
5) Card machine operators (1) . This machine is basically
like a service station credit card machine.
This volunteer is at the same table as the typists
and can be an alternate typist if the drive is slower or if the drive is
short on volunteers. Only Red Cross plastic cards work in the machine.
a) Make sure that the information on the plastic
card is correct. If it is not and the donor wants it changed, a new
card must be typed up and the old plastic card attached to the registration
form with a paper clip.
b) If the information is correct, check to make
sure the person has not donated within the past eight weeks.
c) Make sure the donor writes down ter local phone
number, local address, and puts ter social security number in the two
places mentioned in the "typists" instructions.
card.
card.
than once,
the head nurse,
d) Make sure the donor signs the registration
e) Paper clip the plastic card to the front of the
f) Do not run over the card with the machine more
g) If you have any trouble with the machine, tell
6) Temperature takers (].-2) .
a) Greet the donor and take ter registration card.
Ask for ter weight and record it on the card. Donor must be 17-61 years
old; donors usually must weight 110 pounds (check your agency's rules).
b) When asking weight, do it quietly; some people
prefer not to have it shouted across the room.
c) Make sure that the donor has signed the form.
d) When the donors come to the station, have their
cards on the table in the order that they arrive. In order to facilitate
this orderliness number the cards from 1 through the number of people
that pass through this station at the top of the form.
47
c) Check the thermometer befor(> inserting it into
the donor's mouth to make sure that is has been shaken down below 94
degrees Fahrenheit, and that the tip is not broken or cracked. Make
sure volunteer is seated.
f) Leave the thermometer in the donor's mouth
about three minutes. 'I'he temjjerature shovild be between 96.6-99.6 degrees
F. If the First temperature reading is below or above this range, ask
the donor if te would mind using a different thermometer, and then
insert a new one and reread temperature. Write down both temperatures
and circle the first one. If this second temperature doesn't lie in the
range specified, send him on to the next station anyv/ay. ONLY THE NURSE
AT THE NEXT STATION CAN TELL A DONOR THAT TE CANNOT DONATE BECAUSE OF
TER TEMPERATURE.
g) After taking the thermometer out of the donor's
mouth, wipe it off with a clean, wet gauze. Use a new piece of gauze
for each thermometer. DO NOT REUSE THE THERMOMETER".""
h) Put used thermometers in the plastic container.
Make sure they are all lying the same way. Stack the thermometers one
layer thick and put a square of paper toweling between each layer.
i) The donor should be given ter card and told to
go to the blood pressure station.
After having ter blood pressure checked by a
local volunteer Red Cross nurse, the donor should continue to medical
histories where another trained local Red Cross volunteer nurse will ask
ter a list of questions to determine the prospective donor's eligibility.
This nurse will also prick the donor's ear for a blood test, and then
direct the donor to the bottle labeling station. The local Red Cross
nurses are also in charge of this. Refreshments will be set up here,
and donors should be invited to help themselves to coke and cookies.
7) Escorts to the donor tables (1-2) .
a) When one of the donor tables in a drawing unit
is open, remove the labeled container and the registration card from the
bottle labeling table. These cards should be laid out in order for you
by the bottle labelers. But be observant; if the Red Cross nurse at a
drawing table has an emergency, don't take the donor to ter until the
situation has been taken care of,
b) Check to make sure that the numbers on the
container and the registration card match.
c) Call the full name of the donor (middle initial
too) and make sure you have the right person. Do not hurry the donor —
if te is eating, give ter time to finish.
d) Carry the container and the donor's registration
card as you escort the donor to the unit where a table is open.
48
e) Lay container and card down on the table and
have the donor sit on the table.
f) If the drive is busy or there is a real short-
age of volunteers, this person may have to double as a walker (to canteen
after donating) also.
The Red Cross nurse will now draw a pint of
blood from the donor. When the donor is finished, te will have the
donor raise the arm that the unit of blood was taken from and hold a
bandage on the puncture site. When the nurse has the donor sit up, the
donor is ready to be walked to the canteen.
8) Walkers (2-6).
a) The walker's most important function is to make
sure no one gets hurt. If a donor starts to feel faint, etc.:
I. Protect ter head.
II. Get the person to the floor as fast and
as safely as possible.
III. Summon canteen nurse.
IV. Move the cot to the person. Do not move
the person to the cot.
b) Nurse will generally do any or all:
I. Put ter legs up.
II. Have ter breathe into a paper bag.
III. Cover with blankets, if needed.
IV. Make ter drink milk.
V. Keep watch on pulse.
c) If there are enough walkers, it is all right to
talk to the recovering donor, providing the donor is up to it and the
nurse does not seem to mind.
d) Walkers should be alert to nurses. The nurse
will signal when the donor is ready to go to the canteen, and the walker
should not keep the nurse waiting.
e) When walking a donor to the canteen, hold the
bandaged arm; this leaves the donor's "good" arm to pull out a chair in
the canteen. It also keeps the donor from falling and putting pressure
on that arT
f) The walker .^^ST HOLD ON TO EVERY DONOR. A
donor often claims to feel fine^ procests someone's holding ter and tlicn
"-\XI.uS.
49
g) Donors should not lean on bandaged arm.
h) Take the finished blood unit and the card over
to the custodian table. Needless to say the unit should be e ntirely
disconn ected from the donor before removing it from the donor table!
i) Guys walking girl donors and vice versa works
out well! !
9) Canteen workers (1-2).
The local Red Cross is in charge of this station; how-
ever, it also helps to have student volunteers here to pass out refreshments,
a) The floor supervisor should introduce the
volunteer to the Red Cross nurse in charge and other volunteers.
b) The Red Cross nurse generally shows the volun-
teers what to do. This includes:
I. Giving each donor a cup of water — te
must drink this first.
II. Then asking the donor if te prefers coke
or coffee (cream/sugar) .
III. Giving the donor two cookies.
IV. Giving the donor an "I gave blood today"
sticker if te likes.
c) Donors can have as much as they want.
d) If you run out of something in the canteen,
talk to the supervisor. Te should know where refreshments are.
e) Canteen volunteers should watch to make sure
people look OK. Any change in color should be watched. Usually the
nurse takes care of this.
f) If a person feels faint, have ter put ter head
between ter legs and a volunteer should move a cot over to the person.
Summon nurse.
g) Stay calm . Distract other donors if one has a
reaction before a chain reaction starts. If one faints, often a few
others will too.
h) When working with food, be sanitary. Handle
the cookies as little as possible and use napkins.
1) The donor should keep ter arm on the table so
that the nurse can make sure it is not still bleeding.
j) The donor must stay in the canteen 15 minutes
(by nurse's watch!!).
50
k) The donor gallon pins are handed out in the
canteen; this provides immediate reinforcement for these donors.
10) Lab sheet typist and segmenting machine.
Wlien a person has finished donating and nurse has
completely removed all tubing from the arm, then the walker should take
the unit of blood to the custodian at the segmenting machine, and the
registration card to the lab sheet typist. The Red Cross custodian is
in charge of segmenting and may occasionally use an extra volunteer
here. The local Red Cross volunteers are in charge of the lab sheets;
however, sometimes volunteers must fill in. This typist must be good
since accuracy is important. Custodian or head nurse will show the
volunteer what to do. It is especially important that this typist not
get behind at the end of the day, so it usually helps to put an extra
typist here.
11) nr1vf,T:a. (1-2).
a) Make sure the driver knows how to get to the
local blood bank.
b) The driver should escort donors into the
entrance of the blood bank, have them hang up their coats, and take
their seats. Generally, be helpful.
c) Before leaving, the driver should check in the
canteen to see if any donors are ready to leave. Te shouldn't wait more
than a minute for anyone. It is important to keep the car moving.
d) If a donor has to make a class on the way back,
the driver can drop that donor off if convenient. Near the end of the
day if it is not as busy, say around 5:00 or so, a donor can be driven
home if te prefers. Don't make anyone too late because of giving blood.
However, driving people around can cause huge delays to the other donors
who will be waiting for rides.
e) Emergency procedures — generally you may want
to have anmionia capsules in the car in case someone feels faint. The
blood bank also has ammonia capsules. The usual procedure is to watch
the donor's head. Don't let the person hit terself. Just use common
sense in all cases.
f) The car keys should be left at the reception
desk if the driver stops taking donors to the local blood bank.
g) The driver is sometimes the only communication
between the blood bank aftd campus. We have to find out from ter if
things are backed up or going smoothly over there.
h) MOST IMPORTANT ~ KEEP THE CAR MOVING!!
c. Donor Relations Committee:
1) If there aren't enough donors for the other days in
the drive, the committee people will have to call donors from the file.
51
2) Handle any telephone appointments that are made
during the drive for the next day and add them to the donor schedule
sheets the receptionist has (if they are for the next day) .
3) Keep a list of donors (names, social security num-
bers, blood types) who are temporarily disqualified or who experience
discomfort for a special communication after the drive.
4) Keep a suggestion box in the canteen area.
5) Be in charge of handing out any questionnaires in
the canteen from the Research subcomndttee.
6) Inform donors about blood either at the canteen area
or at check- in with simple signs such as the one on page, seven.
7) Take charge in distributing and collecting Christmas
and summer pledges at the canteen area.
8) Have a person responsible for picking up the pink
and yellow Red Cross registration forms from the head nurse at the end
of each drive day.
d. Publicity committee:
1) Get the total pints of blood collected each night
and give it to the daily campus newspaper (to put on the front page as a
blood thermometer if possible) . The committee can also tell the newspaper
if the drive is behind its quota.
2) Check to see that all the advertisements are correct
and are in operation,
3) The committee can sell blood T-shirts at the canteen
area.
e. Computer Services (if applicable):
1) The pink and yellow Red Cross registration forms
should be gotten from Donor Relations from the previous day to allow
coding of the Information.
2) Extra volunteers at the drive could start coding
donor information from the pink and yellow registration forms.
f • Director:
1) Te should try to be at the opening, peak hours, and
closing of the drive each day.
2) Te should make up a check list to make sure everyone
is doing what they should be doing.
52
3. Things to do AFTER the drive:
a. Logistics committee;
1) Make sure that typewriters, signs, donor-volunteer-
supervisor schedule sheets, pens, paperclips, canteen supplies, and
anything else you may have brought to the drive are all returned to
their respective places iinined l ately after the drive.
2) Make sure that 4 to 5 loaders show up an hour after
the drive stops accepting donors.
3) Make sure that the bill for the lefreshments is
given to the proper people and paid promptly.
b. Volunteer Relations committee:
1) Supervisor should close the drive.
2) As work trails off in the last hour of the drive,
tell volunteers that they can go home and thank them for their time.
c. Donor Relations committee:
1) Make sure that the Computer Services committee gets
the names, social security numbers, blood types, and donation dates of
each of the following:
a) All donors.
b) Temporary rejects.
c) "No-shows".
d) Permanent rejects.
2) Make sure the Computer Services conmiittee gets the
names, social security numbers and hours worked for all the volunteers.
3) Have the Research subcommittee figure out the "vital
statistics" of the drive listed in Appendix N.
4) Answer complaints with the help of the Director on:
a) Something the volunteers did at the drive.
b) Something the Red Cross did (e.g. a nurse who
seemed to draw blood badly from several donors) .
c) Not receiving a blood card (only if these are
issued by your particular Red Cross) .
53
5) Send the blood cards to the donors if the Red Cross
doesn't send them out. Do this immediately after you receive the cards
from the Red Cross.
6) Have the Research subcommittee tally the results
from any questionnaires that may have been handed out in the canteen
area.
7) Turn in the Christmas or summer pledge cards to the
blood program office.
d. Publicity committee:
1) Make sure that the total count from the last day of
the drive gets put into the newspaper the day following the bloodmobile.
2) ideally all posters and announcements about the
drive should be taken down inmiediately after the drive so the public
doesn't get desensitized to them.
e. Computer Services conanittee:
1) Make sure that you get the names, social security
numbers, blood types, and donation dates of each of the following from
the Donor Relations Committee:
a) All donors.
b) Temporary rejects.
c) "No-shows".
d) Permanent rejects.
2) Make sure tliat you get the names, social security
numbers, and hours worked for all the volunteers from the Donor Relations
committee also.
3) Help the Research subcommittee of Donor Relations
with any lists of people they may need.
f . Director;
Call a meeting of all committee heads to see what problems
came up at the drive, and come up with their possible solutions. Also,
look ahead to the next drive.
54
1
SUGGESTIONS FOR A DORMITORY BLOOD DRIVE
A. AMNUAL PLANNING (DORMITORY RT.OOI) DRIVE)
1. When you start planning your dormitory drives, you must st.irl
planning in the first few weeks of the semester preceding the semester
in which you wish to start drawing donors.
a. Talk to the person in charge of student housing at your
university, Important Telephone Number 22 (ITNL #22), to check to make
sure that holding bloodmobiles in the dormitories will be permissible.
1) Bring along some evidence to show that the drawing
agency has insurance to cover any accidents that donors may have while
at the bloodmobile.
2) Try to persuade ter to have a resident advisor (a
person who is in an administrative capacity on the floor of the dorm) or
a resident director (a person who is in charge of a dorm) to take charge
of a bloodmobile in ter dorm. A person associated with the university
is usually much more informed on the bureaucratic red tape needed to get
equipment and services for the bloodmobile and is usually more responsible.
But you must ask this student housing director early in the semester
preceding the semester you want to hold your drives so prospective
resident advisors and directors can agree to undertake this responsibility.
3) If a resident advisor or director will not take
charge of the bloodmobile, then a student living in the dorm would be
the next best thing. This student should (if possible) be a floor
president or the hall president so that te could use ter authority to
get volunteers to help out at the drive,
b. If you are also having central campus drives, have the
same da tes for these drives as the dorm drives. If you don't, you may
be unnecessarily confusing prospective donors.
c. If you are not also having central campus drives, make
sure In setting up the drawing dates that good communication exists
among all interested parties. Make sure that all affected and interested
parties are represented when the blood drive dates and all of the specifics
are decided upon. In particular this should include the representative
of the drawing agency with which you will have drawing in the dorm (ITNL
//A), the director of student housing (ITNL //22) , the Director of (or the
person trying to organize) the university blood program (ITNL #25) , and
any interested persons who want to be involved in the program. All
dates should be agreed upon to some large degree of satisfaction by all
involved and must be confirmed in writing among all the parties involved.
d. When selecting dates, the following factors must be taken
into consideration:
1) Try to have a blood drive every month.
55
2) Since donors are eligible to give blood eight weeks
after they have last given, space drives so that the donor pool that
gives at the first drive is eligible to give again at the third drive,
and so that the second drive donors are eligible for the fourth drive,
etc., so in other words there can be a drive every two months in a
particular dorm for at least one day. (For example, if you are going to
have a three-day drive a month and four dormitories — A, B, C, and D —
in which to hold them, the arrangement of dorms could be as follows:
month 1
AAB
month 2
CCD
month 3
ABB
month 4
CDD)
3) Student schedules (holidays, vacations, finals,
etc.) must be considered. Exam weeks and periods when students are not
present are obviously poor drawing dates; also several days immediately
preceding vacations are poor dates.
4) Try to provide blood drives at times when it will be
especially needed (before holidays, etc.).
5) Two- or three-day drives near the end of the week
are the best (weekdays only) . The second and third days of a drive are
generally busier since publicity by word of mouth builds up pint donations,
6) Availability of the bloodmobile site must be con-
sidered also; but this should be no real problem i_f you start planning a
semester ahead.
e. Wlien trying to find out if a dorm is suitable enough to
hold a bloodmobile in, remember that you are trying to get people from
the surrounding area to give blood also — not only those students
living in the dorm. The factors to be considered are:
1) Campus student traffic close to the dorm. If you
have, let say, a sports complex next to a particular dorm, then that
dorm will have a good chance of attracting a lot of non-dorm students.
lounge) .
lit, etc.).
2) Visibility of drawing site (probably a student
3) Availability of the site.
4) Size of site (must be large enough).
5) Facilities.
6) Atmosphere (temperature regulation, pleasant, well-
7) Minor considerations such as ease for loaders and
unloaders (are there many stairs?), parking spaces and a nearby tele-
phone for emergencies, communication purposes, and appointments.
56
i
H) Student composition in terms of freshmen, sopho-
mores, juniors, and seniors. If the program lias been going on for a few
years, the upperclassmen will be more apt to give and encourage the
underclassmen to do likewise.
f. Different dorms will have to have different goals. Tt
depends tremendously on who is in charge of the dorm, the effectiveness
of the publicity, what the composition of students is, how large the
dorm is, if there are any other dorms nearby, if there is any substantial
campus traffic close to the dorm, time of the academic year (midterms,
finals, etc.), even seasons of the year.
If you have never had a drive at a particular location,
let the drawing agency make a guess as to how many pints they could draw
after analyzing any facts you can give them about the above variables.
Only after the first year of operation could you get a feel for the
number of pints that could be collected at a particular dorm. (A
complex of 1200-1500 students in our experience can be expected to give
approximately 60-90 pints of blood a day for a three-day drive.)
g. Times for the drive must also be decided upon. The hours
should include times when students are in the dorm. Lunch and dinner
times are slow for donations since a lot of students are eating, but
before or after them is fine. Times are again a matter of experience.
h. Once you have all of the above arrangements in order,
make copies of the dorm schedule and mail it to the director of student
housing and all the resident directors (ITNL #23) and advisors. Ask the
resident directors in a letter to reserve the main lounge for the days
that the blood drive will be in their dorm.
i. Have the head of the drawing agency accompany the director
of the blood program to all the lounges where te will be drawing, make a
sketch of how te would like the furniture arranged, and make requests
for additional furniture if needed. Make copies of these sketches, keep
one of each, and send a couple of a particular dorm to the resident
director of that dorm so te can give it to the custodian staff who will
arrange the furniture.
j . Talk to the drawing agency and see what they will supply
for each drive in terms of coffee, juice, punch, cookies, pretzels, hot
and cold cups, napkins, spoons, cream and sugar, etc. The drawing
agency will have preferences as to what it can conveniently and cheaply
bring and what they would like the site to provide.
k. Once you know what the site will be expected to provide
in terms of refreshments, talk to the person in charge of the cafeteria
in every dorm you will be in (ITNL #23) and tell ter of your plans for
the blood drive and what refreshments you need and perhaps te may provide
all your refreshments at a discount from the cafeteria's food service.
Ask this person also the procedure for placing an order for the refreshments
for the drive.
57
1. Also when you meet with your drawing agency ask what
I)()sirlons on tlie bloodmobile will have to be staffed by volunteers. Ask
lor the procedural steps for these stations (in a manner similar to tlie
descriptions of the positions volunteers must fill at a Red Cross drive)
so you could t)'pe It up and use It for the volunteer manual.
m. Ask your drawing agency if they have any aids to help you
attract donors to the bloodmobile. Some of these could include things
such as posters, fliers, newspaper Inserts, etc.
The agency also may have nice little things for a donor
after te donates that give recognition. These recognition devices also
help to publicize the drive.
n. Talk to your drawing agency representative and see if it
would be possible to get some kind of "blood assurance" plan for your
university community (see Appendix C) . In brief, blood assurance means
that if any member of your university community (students, faculty, or
staff) or ter immediate family receives blood, te will not have to
recruit donors to replace the pints used or pay a replacement fee.
o. Talk to the person in charge of parking (ITNL #10) and
see if you can get some agreement to get special parking permits and
parking places designated for the technicians at the drive. Often the
technicians won't know the area they are drawing in. TTiey will have a
hard time finding parking places and they won't be able to run out to
feed the parking meter every time it expires.
p. Once your blood program is in operation, you are going to
have to have some room where you can store all the records of your
program, the signs from the drive, and many other miscellaneous things,
as well as a phone that interested donors and volunteers can call to
make appointments, and from which committee people can call donors and
volunteers. The importance of appointments is discussed in the intro-
duction and in Appendix B.
q. You will have to have the phone number of a doctor on
call and an ambulance firm. An ambulance firm will probably be no
problem, but finding a doctor who would be on call may be harder. Check
with your health service or with neighborhood hospitals and see if they
would be willing to offer such a service.
r. Talk to the administration of your university and see if
they would let you have some computer time and space to store all the
various data listed in this manual that will make for a fairly sophisti-
cated blood program. Discuss the blood program primarily in terms of
coTranunity service. The administration may well be interested in blood
assurance as well, as this is commonly seen as a fringe benefit. The
software for any type of filing you will need to do is described in
Appendix L,. The appendix also describes where you can write to actually
obtain the software programs.
58
2. Physical set-up at the drive.
a. A list of the stations and what must be done at each
should be made up by the head of the drawing agency that you work with;
however the following should be included in the list of stations:
1) Receptionist — registers all donors, answers ques-
tions on eligibility to give blood, handles donor flow, shows volunteers
who to go to to be assigned and explained jobs, and registers volunteers.
2) Walkers — escort donor from drawing table to
canteen area.
3) Canteen area — donor should be requested to stay
here about 15 minutes (and eat if te wants) to see if te has any reactions
after giving blood.
b. Equipment that must be present at each drive:
1) Typewriters — may not be needed if the drawing
agency prints its registration forms.
2) Pens and paperclips.
3) Nametags for volunteers and supervisors — helps to
recognize the volunteer and help the supervisor to be able to call
volunteers by their first name. Also if any problems come up, the
volunteers and the technicians both will know who the supervisor is.
4) All donor schedule sheets, volunteer schedule sheets,
and supervisor schedule sheets (for examples of the first two see Appendix
5) Donor eligibility sign — to be placed in front of
receptionist's table. Good for two reasons — attracts people and tells
of major eligibility requirements so that not as many questions are
asked of receptionist. More detailed eligibility requirements should
be written down for receptionist.
6) Canteen area supplies — magazines, donor question-
naires, crayons and paper for inspired donors to draw with (some drawings
are so creative they can be used for publicity), and donor recognition
items (such as Red Cross "Be nice to me, I gave blood today" stickers
and pins) .
7) Custodian-supplied items:
a) Coat racks and hangers for volunteers and
donors.
b) Mop, broom, and bucket in case of accident or
clean up.
c) Extention cords — 25 and 50 feet.
59
d) Tables and chairs In quantities that drawing
agency wants.
e) A few large trash cans.
c. Procedures to be developed for drive.
1) A way of labeling the stations so donors know where
to go.
2) A way of keeping the donors in the order that they
registered. This can be done by numbering the registration cards in the
upper left hand corner from 1 to however many donors show up at wherever
temperatures are taken.
3) A way of keeping track of volunteers and the times
they worked. This can be done by having volunteers register at the
receptionist's desk before and after they work.
3. At the end of the year.
Thanks and recognition should be given to all who have helped.
This includes all your volunteers and donors, all of the local Red Cross
volunteers, all university officials who have helped you, and any other
persons and organizations who contributed their time, effort, goods, or
services to the drives. This can be simply done by writing a letter to
the editor of your college newspaper or taking an ad out in the newspaper.
Special recognition should be made to those volunteers who put
in an exceptional amount of time for the drives and all those donors who
have donated one gallon or more of blood in their blood donating career.
The new Director should have long ago been chosen and trained
by the "old" one, new committee heads should have been chosen, and most
of the arrangements for next year's drives should have been already
made. Planning for a summer drive should have started.
The "old" Director should get together with ter "old" committee
heads, evaluate the year's effort and make any suggestions on how to
improve the blood program to the new staff.
60
B. PER DRIVE PLANNING (DORMITORY BLOOD DRIVE)
1. Things to do before the drive.
a. Logistics coinmittee :
1) See to it that parking permits are ordered and given
to the Dorm Director at least a day before the drive.
2) A couple days before the drive, see to it that A to
5 people will be present an hour and a half to two hours before the
drive to unload the blood bank's supplies (and also an hour after the
drive stops accepting donors on the last day to load the supplies) .
3) Give the Dorm Director the phone numbers of a doctor
on call and an ambulance (so te can give them to the blood bank) .
4) Order the refreshments for the drive within the
necessary time from the cafeteria food service.
5) Have ready for pick-up by the Director two weeks
before the drive: volunteer name tags, "Be nice to me" stickers,
magazines, pens, and any questionnaires for the donors.
b. Volunteer Relations committee :
1) Have the volunteer schedule sheets made \ip for the
drive and ready for pick-up by the Director two weeks before the drive
(see Appendix F) .
2) Have someone sit by the phone to collect volunteer
names. This should be coordinated with Donor Relations (see Appendix H ) .
3) If contacted by a Dorm Director with insufficient
volunteers (at least two days before the drive) , start phoning volunteers
from the master list. This master list would include volunteers from
other dorms and if you have a central campus drive program, it would
also include students who don't live in dorms (see Appendix H^) .
4) At least a couple days before the drive, assign
supervisors for the drive and have only one in charge at a time.
5) The different stations at the drive and their proce-
dures should be given to the Director two weeks before the drive.
c. Donor Relations committee :
1) A letter could be sent to all eligible donors in
the dorm, neighboring dorms, and surrounding community a week to a half
week before the bloodmobile telling them the particulars about the drive
(see Appendix M) .
2) Make up the blank donor schedule sheets (Appendix F^)
and have them ready for pick-up by the Director two weeks before the
drive.
3) Have someone answer phones for donors to call in
their appointments. Again coordinate with Volunteer Relations. Start
between one week and one half week before the drive (see Appendix H) .
4) If contacted by the Dorm Director with not enough
donor slgn-ups two days before the drive start phoning eligible donors
From previous donor lists who live in the vicinity (see Appendix H) .
5) Make up an eligibility sign and a more extensive
eligibility sheet according to the specifications of the blood bank and
give it to the Director two weeks before the drive.
d. Publicity committee;
1) The following is a list of ideas for publicity — by
no means is this list meant to be complete:
a) College newspaper (see examples. Appendix Q^)
I. Ads to be run one or two days before and
each day of the drive.
II. Feature articles — the publicity commit-
tee can try to arrange for these; however the best way to get articles
is to know people on the newspaper staff. Also inviting reporters to
the first big drive helps.
III. Editorials.
IV. Letters to the editor.
V. A blood thermometer — try to get the
newspaper to give you a small area on the front page for each day of the
drive and the day after for a thermometer showing the number of pints
collected relative to the program's yearly goal. This means that someone
must call the newspaper's office each day after the drive ends to let
them know how many pints v/ere collected.
b) Other campus newspapers and magazines, perhaps
appealing to more specific campus groups, should also be utilized.
c) Posters, fliers, etc., may be gotten from the
blood bank.
d) The official school calendar should be sent the
list of blood drive dates and locations.
e) If there are organizations that sponsor movies,
see if they would help publicize the drive by showing a slide with the
date, location and times of the drive right before they show their
movies .
f) You can have leaflets, fliers, and signs put up
in the dorm, neighboring dorms, and in the surrounding university community.
62
g) Leaflets can be sent to all floor resident
advisors in the dorm you are drawing in with a note asking them to post
tlie flyers on their floor and encourage their Floor to (Uin.ite.
ii) Vi) I iinteers could .ilso do sonic- |)ul)li(ily work.
When a volunteer receives notification of an approacliing drive I rom Llie
Volunteer Relations committee, perhaps te should receive 5 or 6 Diers
to post or distribute and could be asked to tell ter friends about the
drive and to encourage them to donate.
i) Radio stations — many allot a certain amount
of time to Public Service Announcements. Perhaps a tape could be
prepared for distribution to the radio stations.
j) Blood program T-shirts for volunteers and
donors might be a means of advertising and simultaneously providing much
needed recognition for these people for their contribution to the
program. The front could have the blood program insignia with the back
having the person's blood type.
2) Make sure that everything that the committee decides
to do is done well ahead of the drive since many of the media and organi-
zations and businesses have to have a minimum of a week or two to do
whatever you want them to do.
3) Have posters and the instructions on how to fill
them out ready for pick up by the Director two weeks before the drive.
4) Establish a speaker's bureau. This group of committee
people will be responsible to go to organized housing such as fraternities,
sororities, and dorms to speak about a blood drive coming up. This is a
good way to publicize the drive and at the same time inform the donor
and potential donor about some facts on blood and the process of giving
blood.
e. Computer Services committee:
1) This committee will make up labels for any desired
group or subgroup of people that any of the committees want for either
letter purposes or phone lists.
2) The Newsletter subcommittee should work with the
director. Donor Relations and Volunteer Relations in writing the letters
to donors and volunteers.
f . Plrs^ttf]:;
1) Make sure that you get the following from your
committees two weeks before the drive and give it to the Dorm Director:
a) Volunteer name tags, "Be nice to me" stickers,
magazines, and pens.
b) Volunteer schedule sheets.
63
c) Descriptions of the tasks for each of the
stations at the drive.
d) Donor schedule sheets.
e) Eligibility sign and the more extensive eligi-
bility guideline sheets.
f) Posters and instructions on how to fill them
out .
g) Donor questionnaires.
2) Monitor the progress of the blood program and
propose modifications where necessary.
3) Formulate all public statements — policy and
progress.
g. Dorm Director;
1) Make sure that you get a "package" from the Director
two weeks before the drive.
2) Make sure that the bloodmobile site is reserved.
3) Sign-ups for both volunteers and donors should be
conducted at the entrance to the cafeteria during dinner for at least 4-
5 days before the drive.
4) Make sure that the custodians have a copy of the
floor plan for the bloodmobile site and any requests for additional
furniture.
5) Keep in communication with the head of the blood
bank to inform ter on the number of donor sign-ups and to receive any
extra instructions.
6) If there aren't enough donors, call the Donor
Recruitment chairperson at least two days before the drive and ter
committee will phone eligible donors in the vicinity to donate at the
drive.
7) If there aren't enough volunteers, call the Volunteer
Relations chairperson at least two days before the drive and ter committee
will phone volunteers in the vicinity to work at the drive.
8) Take the posters, fill in the time, date, and place
on them, and put them up in the dorm, neighboring dorms, and surrounding
university community one and a half weeks before the drive.
9) If Volunteer Relations cannot get enough supervisors,
be prepared to assign an experienced volunteer to be in charge of the
drive. Someone must be in charge at all times.
64
10) Make sure that you get the parking permits from the
Logistics committee at least a couple days before the drive and give
them to the blood bank when they arrive.
11) Try to find some typewriters (if you need them for
the registration cards).
2. Things to do AT the drive.
a. Logistics committee:
Make sure that the loaders have come and unloaded the
necessary supplies 1 1/2-2 hours before the drive begins.
b. Volunteer Relations committee:
1) If there aren't enough volunteers for the other days
in the drive, the committee people will have to phone them up.
2) Supervisor's Role — there must always be someone
present who is in charge and capable of answering questions.
a) A schedule of all supervisors is to be kept at
the reception desk so that the check-in person will know to whom to
direct any volunteers, questions, or problems during the drive.
b) The supervisor is in charge of opening up the
drive and closing it at the end of the day.
c) Te should check in with the ranking technician
when te begins so that te will know who is supervising.
d) The new supervisor should arrive on duty a few
minutes early in order to be informed of the situation by the departing
supervisor.
e) Te should have a name tag with ter name and
"supervisor" written on it and te should make sure all the volunteers
also have a name tag.
f) Te assigns jobs to those volunteers who don't
have one .
g) Once all volunteers have jobs, the supervisor
must give each volunteer instructions on what their particular station
needs to have done.
h) These instructions should be given to the
volunteer each time; it is very easy to forget the details of what must
be done for each station even if the volunteer has done the task the day
before.
65
1) Te helps the receptionist keep a list of who
worked and for how long. This could be used at the end of the year for
volunteer recognition.
j) Te must make sure that the flow of donors
doesn't get bogged down in any one area, by shifting volunteers around to
help in the congested areas.
k) Te should remain cheerful and courteous to all
volunteers, nurses, and donors. Te should try to encourage interaction
between the volunteers and try to learn their names from their name
tags.
1) If te notices that a donor has been rejected,
te should talk to ter and if it is only a temporary rejection, encourage
ter to come back. Often would-be donors are quite upset and take their
rejection quite personally. If the supervisor is short on volunteers
ask that person if te would like to spend the hour te would have donated,
volunteering. If someone has been permanently rejected, make sure te
understands why and the supervisor might suggest that te become a blood
drive volunteer instead.
m) Te should make sure that the donors are staying
in order, at least to the extent that donors don't get upset. To do
this te may have to have a volunteer stand at the bottleneck of the
bloodmobile and call out the numbers that the person at temperatures
wrote on their registration cards.
n) Twenty minutes before the hour, the supervisor
should go around with the volunteer schedule list and check to see which
volunteers will be leaving, so that te will know where new volunteers
will have to be placed.
o) When volunteers leave te should make sure they
check out at the receptionist desk, so the time they worked can be
recorded.
p) If it looks like there are not enough volunteers
either see if the volunteers there could stay longer than the time they
signed up for or just redistribute the volunteers you do have to cover
the stations where they are needed most. The supervisor shouldn't be
afraid to help out terself where te is needed most.
q) The people on the volunteer schedule sheet
should be placed first, then the walk- in volunteers. Extra volunteers
could be put to walking donors and talking to donors on the drawing
table.
r) It is not good to have too many volunteers,
since it is important that all volunteers feel that they are needed.
s) The donor is the major concern — making the
experience as pleasant as possible and getting ter through the donation
line as quickly as possible.
66
t) It is good to have an overlap af old and new
volunteers for a few minutes so that the newcomer has time to adjust to
the task.
u) If there are any items outside the donor room,
they should be taken inside at the end of the drive day so they won't be
lost.
3) Receptionist:
a) The receptionist should be able to answer
donors' questions or at least be able to refer the donor to someone who
can. (The medical questions not answered by the eligibility sheets
should be taken to the head technician.)
b) This person will be taking appointments for the
day's drive and marking donors' names off as they arrive. Donors should
then be directed to the typists.
c) Walk-in donors can be taken as the situation
permits; this is where the receptionist's judgment is important. Too
many donors taken at once will create a bottleneck inside the drawing
rooms and result in longer waiting lines and frustrated donors (see
Appendix G) . If it seems to be crowded inside, ask the donor to make an
appointment for later in the day or the next day. This ability to judge
the situation comes from experience at the drives, so it is generally a
good idea to have a volunteer who has worked at the drives before as a
receptionist.
d) New volunteers should check-in here and be
directed to the supervisor. When the volunteer finishes working, te
should check out here also, so there is an accurate record of the
number of hours that te has worked.
e) When the receptionist is not busy, te can
talk to people who have finished donating to get some estimate of how
fast donors are getting out. Ideally, it would be less than an hour,
realistically, it is usually between 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
4) The other stations may vary depending upon what the
blood bank will let you do. This committee should already have these
positions and should have given the Dorm Director a copy.
c. Donor Relations coni]p ; n't;<i^<[^;
1) If there aren't enough donors for the other days,
the committee people will have to call donors from the file.
2) Handle any telephone appointments that are made
during the drive and add them to the donor schedule sheets the recep-
tionist has (only if they are for the next day) .
3) Keep a list of donors (names, social security num-
bers, blood types) who are temporarily disqualified or who experience
discomfort for a special communication after the drive.
67
4) Keep a suggestion box in the canteen area.
5) Inform donors about blood either at the canteen area
or at the receptionist with simple signs such as the one on page seven.
6) Take charge of handing out any questionnaires in the
canteen from the Research subcommittee.
7) Have a person be responsible to collect the names,
social security numbers and blood types of all those who donated, from
the blood bank at the end of the day.
d. Publicity committee;
1) Get the total pints of blood collected each night
and give it to the daily campus newspaper (to put on the front page as a
blood thermometer if possible) . The committee can also tell the paper
if the drive is behind its quota.
2) Check to see that all the advertisements are correct
and are in operation.
3) The committee can sell blood T-shirts at the canteen
area.
e. Computer Services^
1) Get the donor information from the Donor Relations
committee from the previous day.
2) If there are some extra volunteers at the drive,
they could start coding the donor information.
f . Director:
Make up a check list to make sure all the committees and
the Dorm Director are doing what they should be doing.
g. D orm Director;
1) Make sure that the room is set up correctly.
2) Be sure that you have the phone numbers of the
ambulance and hospital and give them to the head person at the drive.
3) Make sure that you give the parking permits to the
blood bank.
4) Make sure that the eligibility sign is up along with
the donor schedule sheets and the volunteer schedule sheets at the
registration table.
5) Make sure that you have enough typewriters (if you
need them) .
68
6) Give the person from publicity the final count each
day so that person could tell the newspaper the total for the day.
3. Things to do AFTER the Drive.
a. Logistics committee:
1) Make sure that the loaders show up an hour after the
drive stops accepting donors.
2) Make sure that the bill for the refreshments is
given to the proper people and paid promptly.
b. Volunteer Relations committee:
1) Supervisor should close the drive.
2) If there is nothing for volunteers to do in the last
hour of the drive, tell them that they may go home and thank them for
their time.
c. Donor Relations committee:
1) Make sure that the Computer Services committee gets
the names, social security numbers, blood types, and donation dates of
each of the following:
a) All donors.
b) Temporary rejects.
c) "No-shows".
d) Permanent rejects.
2) Make sure that the Computer Services committee gets
the names, social security numbers, and hours worked for all the volunteers,
3) Have the Research subcommittee figure out the "vital
statistics" of the drive listed in Appendix N.
4) Answer complaints with the help of the Director on:
a) Something the volunteers did at the drive.
b) Something the blood bank did at the drive.
c) Not receiving a blood card.
69
5) Send the blood cards to the donors if the blood bank
doesn't send them out. Do this immediately after you receive the cards
from the blood bank.
6) Have the Researc-.h subcoiranittee tally the results
from any questionnaires that may have been handed out in the canteen
area.
d. Publicity committee:
Make sure that the total count from the last day of the
drive gets put into the newspaper the day following the bloodmobile.
e. Computer S ervices committee:
1) Make sure that you get the names, social security
numbers, blood types, and donation dates of each of the following from
the Donor Relations committee:
a) All donors.
b) Temporary rejects.
c) "No--shows".
d) Permanent rejects.
2) Make sure that you get the names, social security
numbers, and hours worked for all the volunteers from the Donor Relations
committee also.
3) Help the Research subcommittee of Donor Relations
with any lists of people they may need.
f . Dorm Director:
1) Make sure that the following get turned in to the
Director or the blood program office the day after the drive.
a) Volunteer-donor-supervisor schedule sheets.
b) Eligibility sign and the more extensive
eligibility guidelines sheets.
c) Pens and leftover paperclips.
d) Leftover name tags and "Be nice to me" stickers.
e) Magazines.
f) Donor questionnaires.
2) All posters should ideally be torn down immediately
after the drive — so that the public doesn't become desensitized to
them.
70
1) Talk to the Dorm Director to see if there were any
problems.
2) Talk to the committees, to see if there were any
problems and to plan for the next drive.
lilkfH
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72
Appendix A
LIST OF BOOKS AND ARTICLES RELATED TO BLOOD
If you would like to know a little more on blood and the blood
service complex in the United States, below are some books and articles
you may find interesting. If there are some articles below that you
would like to read, but cannot find in your university's library, just
write to:
John Hackmann
Blood Donor Research Group
105 Advanced Computation Building
Urbana, Illinois 61801
The articles and books that have an asterisk (*) are ones that I
highly recommend that you read.
Books
* Journey , Robert and Suzanne Massie (Alfred A. Knopf, 1973).
Blood — The Biology , Pathology , and Mythology of the Body's Most
Precious Fluid , Earle Hackett, (Saturday Review Press, 1973).
*The Gift Relationship : From Human Blood to Social Policy , Richard
M. Titmuss, (Random House, 1971).
Articles
On The Gift Relationship
*1971 Book Review of: "The Gift Relationship. From Human Blood to
Social Policy," R.M. Titmuss, Review by: O.W. Anderson,
International Journal of H ealth Services , Vol. 1, No. 4, 1971,
pp. 421-423.
1972 "Anderson-Titmuss Debate Over The Gift Relationship: From
Human Blood to Social Policy," a reply to Dr. Anderson by
Titmuss; a rejoinder to Dr. Titmuss by Anderson, D.W., Inter-
national Journal of Health Services , Vol. 2, No. 2, 1972,
pp. 317-318.
1972 "Human Blood and the Renewal of Altruism: Titmuss in Retro-
spect," 0. Mac N. Surgenor, Comments on Titmuss — Anderson
Debate over the Gift Relationship, International Journal of
Health Services , Vol. 2, No. 3, August 1972, pp. 443-453.
*1971 "Why Give to Strangers?," Richard M. Titmuss, Lancet , January
16, 1971, pp. 123-125.
On Donor Recruitment
*1957 "Blood Donor Recruitment: A Case Study on the Psychology of
Communication," Harry A. Grace, Journal of Social Psychology ,
Vol. 46, 1957, pp. 269-276.
1975 "Effects of Donor Recruitment Methods on Population Responses,"
G.T. Ford and E.L. Wallace, Transfusion , Vol. 15, No. 2, Mar-Apr
1975, pp. 159-164.
1975 "Attitudes Underlying Reluctance to Donate Blood," W.P. Bartel,
W. Stelzner, and J. Higgins, Transfusion , Vol. 15, No. 3, May-Jun
1975, pp. 275-277.
1971 "On Stimulating the Gift of Blood," William Bevan, Science , Vol.
173, August 13, 1971, p. 357.
1972 "Stimulating Blood Donation," Richard H. Aster, Science , Vol. 175,
January 28, 1972, pp. 28-29.
On Blood Banking In General
*1971 "Blood Banking," Helen B. Shaffer, Editorial Research Reports ,
Vol, 1, May 5, 1971, pp. 327-344.
1973 "Blood Services: Prices and Public Policy," D. Mac N. Surgenor,
E.L. Wallace, P.D. Gumming, B.D. Mierzwa and F.A. Smith, Science ,
Vol. 180, April 27, 1973, pp. 384-89.
*1974 "The Blood Business," Seymour Lusterman, The Conference Board
Record , February 1974, pp. 47-53.
1972 "Blood Banking: Money is at Root of System's Evils," Constance
Holden, Science , Vol. 175, March 24, 1972, pp. 1344-1348.
1972 "Blood Banking: Tangled System Resists Swift Change," by Constance
Holden, Science, Vol. 175, March 31, 1972, pp. 1444-6.
On Blood Banking and the F.D.A.
1972 "FDA to Regulate All Blood Banks," C. Holden, Science , Vol. 177,
September 8, 1972, p. 869.
1972 "Controls Constrict Sources," Donald F. Phillips, Hospitals JAHA ,
Vol. 46, December 16, 1972, pp. 41-44.
1973 "Protecting Blood Banks' Liquid Assets," Harold C. Hopkins, FDA
Consumer , June 1973, pp. 10-14.
On Blood Banking and the H.E.W.
,vi974 "The National Blood Policy," Donald F. Phillips, Hospitals JAHA ,
Vol. 48, June 16, 1974, pp. 70-76.
1973 "All-Volunteer Blood Banks, Strict Processing Sought by HEW for
Safe, Plentiful Supplies," Jonathan Spivak, The Wall Street
Journal , July 2, 1973.
1973 "Blood Bankers Pressured to Unite," Constance Holden, Science ,
Vol. 182, October 12, 1973, p. 146.
On "Poison Blood"
*1973 "Profiteering in Poison Blood," Thomas Thompson, New Times ,
No. 2, November 2, 1973, pp. 36-39.
*1975 "Blood Farming," Stuart Baur, New York , May 19, 1975, pp. 50-52
and on.
On the Constitutionality of Some Blood Laws
1973 "Constitutionality of Exemption Laws on Guarantee of Purity for
Blood Transfusions and Tissue and Organ Transplants," William J.
Cursan, J.D., S.M. Hyg. , New England Journal of M edicine , Vol.
288, March 1, 1973, pp. 457-9.
On Computer Software
1969 "Aspects of a Computer-assisted System for Calling Blood Donors
froir Specialized Panel," D.F. Hopkins and G.R. Milne, Transfusion .
Vol. 9, No. 5, September to October, 1969, pp. 255-60.
Appendix B
POLICY ISSUES
When you start your blood program, you are going to run across
several issues on which you will have to make decisions. This appendix
lists some policies that your blood program may want to adopt and the
reasoning behind them.
1. "Blood from our town should stay in our town." We disagree with
that statement. Remember, it is people who ultimately use blood,
not blood banks — they are the agent who makes the transfusion
possible. Take the position that blood should be obtained where
it is available and used where needed. We believe donors will
support this approach.
Large university communities often have a surplus of potential
donors capable of producing thousands of pints more than is needed
in that immediate area. Any single drawing agency in your state
may be unable to properly utilize all of the pints that are avail-
able on your campus, since blood that isn't frozen lasts only for
21 days, and frozen blood is still economically unfeasible for
general use. Your blood program may want to work with several
agencies to better utilize your blood resources and help out other
parts of the state during their blood shortages.
2. An effective message to attract donors is "No one in your group or
community will have to pay for blood or be penalized for failing to
replace it." There are two main charges to the patient: a processing
fee, usually $15-$40 per unit, and a responsibility fee, also
called a penalty or non-replacement fee, usually $15-$25. The
processing fee covers the costs of drawing the donor, the plastic
bags for blood, technician time, overhead, etc.; this fee is paid
by third party payers, such as Blue Cross, the Medicare program,
and private health carriers. About 90% of people are covered by
one of these and hence themselves pay no processing fee. The non-
replacement fee usually must be paid by the individual blood recipient.
Forgiveness of the fee for units replaced is intended to be ai\
incentive to donate.
If blood is freely given, and the donor group uses less blood than
its members donate, then you will want to make sure that for each
extra pint donated some individual is relieved of the burden of the
non-replacement fee. Arrangements of this type are often called
"Donor Clubs," and extra credits are often used for indigents,
elderly people who cannot replace, or heavy blood users. Easing
the psychological and financial burden of people who cannot bear
the burdens is another service your expanded blood program can
offer. (See Appendix £. )
3. A policy that is important to the success of a blood program is to
have the donor get through the entire donation process as quickly
and as safely as possible. A realistic time goal should be set at
about an hour. College students frequently only have hour breaks
during which they are willing to donate. If, due to overcrowding
with donors, the process takes any longer, some of them will end up
late for their classes and will not want to bother donating again.
(This potential problem can be taken care of by proper donor
scheduling, described in Appendices G and H) .
The donor should always be the major concern during the drive. Ter
experience should be as pleasant as possible.
4. When you try to recruit donors for a drive, concentrate on "old"
donors — donors that have given before — before you try convincing
people who have never given before. The reason is simple: "old"
donors have shown that they are willing to donate blood since they
have done it before. They can also help in recruiting new donors
since person to person persuasion especially among friends is a
tremendous tool in recruiting new donors. Only after you make
arrangements to do this should you go out and speak to a potential
donor group to try to persuade them to donate blood.
5. Another extremely important part of the blood program should be to
provide educational material and information to both donors and
volunteers concerning blood and blood collection. A better informed
donor population will understand the need for a constant supply of
blood and probably respond more often to appeals to give blood at
the drives.
6. Once your program has been going for a while, stress the importance
of making appointments for donating blood. Advance appointments
make it easier for your blood program to predict the success of the
drive (and take appropriate measures if it doesn't appear that
there will be enough donors) and it encourages a steady donor flow.
Doiiors making appointments can often be scheduled at times when the
drive is usually less crowded. If this is not done, most students
wiJ.l show up at the drive after a class, and you will be unable to
admit all of them without causing the donation time to go very much
above an hour.
7. When you advertise a blood drive, do not use motifs such as vampires.
Emotional appeals are not considered desirable; first because it is
not as likely to encourage an informed decision on the part of the
donor and second, because blood donation is already often an emotion-
ally charged act and it is very undesirable to amplify such fears
for some donors. The coiranittee should also not use a crisis approach
in their publicity efforts either, since this may make the population
lose confidence in its drawing agencies. If this approach is used
very often, the public soon becomes desensitized.
8. If the county that your university is in has a county blood bank,
all advertising for a Red Cross drive must appeal only to the
university community. Therefore utilization of the local community
newspapers and television stations is not as effective as other
media which appeal more directly to the student population.
Appendix C
BLOOD ASSURANCE
The three most serious problems facing the blood transfusion service
in the United States are:
o AVAILABILITY : Blood of all needed types is not always available
in sufficient amounts when and where it is needed.
o QUALITY : Sometimes, even when blood of the proper types l£
available, it has been supplied by paid donors
who are much more likely to be carriers of serious
or even fatal diseases transmitted through trans-
fusion than volunteer donors.
o COST : To increase the supply of voluntarily-donated
blood, many hospitals require transfused patients
to recruit sufficient donors to replace blood
they have received or pay a monetary "replacement
fee" for each unit of blood not replaced.
BLOOD ASSURANCE deals with this third problem. After a transfused
patient is released from the hospital, membership in a blood assurance
program will relieve ter of any obligation to recruit replacement donors
or to pay non-replacement fees.
Blood assurance benefits are available to individuals who have
themselves given blood or who are members of groups which, collectively,
have donated significant amounts of blood. It is only right to free
such individuals from obligations to replace or pay fees in lieu of
blood, since they have acted to contribute voluntarily to the available
blood supply.
Thus, blood assurance is primarily an economic benefit for those
covered: i^ blood was found for them when they needed it, at least
they won't have to pay for it or find donors to replace what they have
used.
COMMUNITY OR GROUP BLOOD ASSURANCE PLANS ARE
PREFERRED TO INDIVIDUAL
Anyone in the community may need blood; it can only be gathered
from people in the community. Therefore, blood is appropriately treated
as a community resource and as a community benefit.
Individual and family 'contract' plans, where a donation covers
only one family for a limited time period, are often successful in
their limited goals. However, we do not believe that these devices are
necessary or sufficient to obtain a sufficient supply of blood.
While protecting some against non-replacement ft-es, siuli plan.s are
undesirable to those who by fate or circumstance, af.e or illness, cannot
be enrolled. These plans are particularly pernicious since they can ] tmit
donations. They rarely encourage more than one pj.nt a year from a
'contract' donor and his family, or schedule additional dates for group
plans after group quotas (reflecting anticipated needs of the group)
have been reached. Many healthy donors thus do not give as often as
they are willing.
Indigent, disabled, and elderly blood recipients not enrolled in
the plans mentioned above are often charged a penalty fee for units that
were given to obtain coverage for the donor under those plans. Many
blood agencies believe that there would not be enough blood donated if
penalty fees were not charged, in spite of evidence that the blood is
there to be had if those segments of the population who do give blood
were properly encouraged to give more.
Appendix D
SAMPLE DONOR ELIGIBILITY SIGN
YOU CM GIVE BLOOD IF:
1. it has been 8 weeks or more since your last donation.
2. you weigh over 110 pounds.
3. you are 17 years of age or older.
4. you have never had hepatitis.
5. it has been more than 3 years since you had malaria or took
anti-malarial pills.
6. you have eaten within the past 4 hours (you should have some-
thing in your stomach) ,
7. you have not taken tetracycline within the past 48 hours (for
complexion only); antibiotics (for any other reasons) within the
past 2 weeks; or injections of antibiotics in the last 30 days.
8. you do not have acute symptoms of a cold or allergy.
9. you have not been pregnant within the past 6 weeks.
QUESTIONS? refer to Doiior Guidelines at the registration table,
This sign should have on it eligibility requirements that are most often
used to reject potential donors.
Appendix F
RED CROSS DONOR ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES
Thi:; is a representative eligibility guideline to aid you in
determining donor eligibility. Persons receiving phone appointments
as well as the receptionist at the drive should have a copy of the
guidelines.
ELIGIBLE DONOR
1. In good health.
2. Donor must weigh ... at least 110 pounds.
3. Donor must be no younger than 17 and no older than 61 years of age.
If a regular donor gives ter age as 61 through 65, they can be
accepted. Regular donors over 66 years of age can give only with
written consent from their personal physician within two weeks of
donation. First time donors over 50 may require evaluation.
4. Satisfactory hemoglobin.
5. Prefer donor has eaten solid food within the previous four hours
(i.e., a good meal). Others will require evaluation.
6. Has not donated blood within the past eight weeks.
NON-ELIGIBLE DONORS:
1. Acute s)miptoms of a cold or flu (to include cough and sore throat).
2. Infections require an evaluation.
3. Temperature of 99.8 or above.
4. History of yellow jaundice or hepatitis.
5. Contact with person who has had yellow jaundice or hepatitis within
the past six months.
6. If a member of family is on a kidney machine or any hospital employee
who is presently working with a kidney machine.
7. Received blood or blood components within the previous six months.
8. Proven carrier of malaria, Plasmodium malariae.
9. If donor has taken anti-malarial drugs within the past three years,
or has been in a malarious zone such as Viet Nam within the previous
six months.
10. Has had a tatoo, ears pierced, or acupuncture in the past six
months.
11. Pregnancy during last six weeks.
12. Heart disease including stroke, heart murmur and/or history of
heart disease, rheumatic fever. Definite evaluation required.
13. Major surgery during previous six months. Minor surgery requires
evaluation.
14. Recent active tuberculosis. After five years, may be accepted with
evaluation.
15. Diabetes requiring medical control.
16. Cancer, except for skin cancer, which will be evaluated.
17. Chronic kidney disease (see number 6, Non-Eligible).
18. Bronchial asthma which is symptomatic at time of donation.
19. Fainting spells — epilepsy (for protection of donor).
20. Convulsions after first two years of life.
21. Skin infections require evaluation. Vein puncture site must be
free of skin disease (see number 2, Non-Eligible).
22. Dental work — includes cleaning within previous 24 hours.
23. Tooth extractions or any oral surgery within 72 hours.
24. Immunizations or vaccinations must be evaluated.
25. All medications must be evaluated:
a. Antibiotics — IM medications, if less than one month has
elapsed since last dosage (including penicillin). Oral medi-
cations if less than two weeks since last dosage (including
penicillin); 48 hours, if taken for acne (tetracycline).
b. Donor on blood pressure medication may be accepted with
written permission of personal physician.
In most cases, diet pills and birth control pills are acceptable.
26. Unexplained weight loss requires evaluation.
27. POLYCTHEMIA VERA (too many red cells) — Cannot be accepted unless
donor presents written request for drawing by ter private physician,
28. Exposure to infectious diseases MUST be evaluated. (Measles,
mumps, chicken pox, etc.)
29. Hazardous occupation must be evaluated. Commercial pilots and crew
may not fly for 14 days. Private pilots are grounded for 72 hours.
Bus drivers cannot drive for 12 hours. Heavy machine operators,
climbers, etc., 12 hours.
30. Extreme nervousness or fatigue.
31. Emotional disturbance.
32. High and low blood pressure requires evaluation. Many acceptable.
Also see number 25(b) above.
33. Pulse irregularities, requires evaluation.
34. Hayfever and Allergy — only if donor has symptoms on the day of
donating or if the donor is receiving desensitization injections.
Appendix F
TIPS TO MAKING THE VOLUNTEER AND DONOR SCHEDULE SHEETS
Volunteer Schedule Sheet
The volunteer schedule sheet should have a section corresponding to
every hour the blood drive is open, with a section looking something
like:
(hour) ( e.g. ,10a.in.) Name Phone No.
Receptionist
Temperatures
Walker
Typist
Canteen
All positions needed at a blood drive should be listed, with lines
corresponding to the number of persons needed for every position.
The receptionist should check off the person's name when the
volunteer shows up to work at the drive. The first space is for the
volunteer's name which should be written down every hour te will work.
The second space is for te social security number which only needs to be
written down for the first hour that te will work that day. The last
space is for the total number of hours that the volunteer will have
worked that day. This will be told to the receptionist by the volunteer
when te leaves. This should be written down next to the volunteer's
social security number. (The volunteer's social security number and
hours worked are needed for storage and year end recognition purposes
respectively) .
Donor Schedule Sheet
The donor schedule sheet should have an appropriate number of lines
of the type illustrated below for every 15 minute period (see Appendix G
to determine what an appropriate number of lines is) :
The box at the left of the line should be checked off by the recep-
tionist when the donor shows up at the drive. The donor's name should
then go in the first space, ter social security number in the second
space, and ter blood type in the third space. If the donor is then
asked to donate at the local blood bank (because the drive has not
opened or, is closed, is too crowded for any more donors at the time,
ter his/her blood type is in dire need at the blood drawing agency) , the
receptionist should make a notation to this effect in the left hand
margin next to ter name (for record keeping purposes) .
10:15a
a
D-
10:30 Q.
D.
D-
BLOOD DRIVE APPOINTMENT SHEET
Wednesday, April 29
Blood Type
Name Social Security No. (if know n)
I
CC4.
• ^J
Appendix G
SCHEDULING DONORS
Determining the appropriate number of lines or in other words the
number of donors to schedule in a given unit of time is illustrated
below (taken from page 4 of the American National Red Cross booklet.
Scheduling Blood Donors [ARC 1777, Jan. 1971]).
For the sake of illustration, let's plan to collect 200 pints of
blood in a drive that operates between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
1. Multiply the quota by the percentage usually medically deferred
(~1.3%) to determine how many persons will be deferred:
200 X 13% = 26
2. Multiply the quota by the percentage of expected "no shows" (~5%)
to determine of those who made appointments (which should be about
half of your quota) how many will not show up:
200 X 5% = 10
3. Add the number deferred, the number of "no shows," and the quota to
determine the number to be scheduled:
26 deferred
10 "no shows"
4 -200 quota
236 must be scheduled to obtain
200 pints of blood
4. Divide the number of persons scheduled by the number of hours of
operation (6) to determine the number of donors to be scheduled
each hour:
236 T 6 = 39.4 40
5. Divide the number of donors scheduled each hour by 4 to determine
how many donors should be allowed to donate for each 15 minute
period:
40 V 4 = 10
This is ideally how many donors should be scheduled or allowed to
donate every 15 minutes, but this will almost never happen at a college
bloodmobile. Even though you may schedule the donors who make appoint-
ments (which again should be about 50% of your quota) evenly around the
hour, those who don't make appointments ("walk- ins") will tend to come
all at once after one of their classes ends — usually on the hour.
To solve this dilemma you must do three things. The first is to
determine the maximum number of donors that could be scheduled every 15
minutes. To do this you must find out how many beds are set-up and how
long a donor lays on this bed. Let's assume there are 12 beds and It
takes 15 minutes for a donor to actually give his blood on ihe hod.
This means that a bed could accommodate 4 donors an liour. With 12 beds
a maximum of 4 x 12 or 48 donors could give in an hour's span — or 12
donors every 15 minutes.
Even though the maximum number of donors is 12 every 15 minutes you
should schedule 14-18 donors in the first quarter hour because you may
only get 7-8 donors in each succeeding 15-minute interval of the hour.
(When figuring out how many donors should be scheduled — 14, 15, 16,
17, or 18 — keep in mind that the length of time it takes for a donor
to go through from registration to canteen should be between an hour and
an hour and a half.) If, for example, you get 16 donors the first
quarter hour and 8 the next three, the total for the hour will be 42 —
less than the 48 donor maximum for the hour and very close to your
hourly quota.
Once you take all the donors who have made appointments for the
first quarter hour and a suitable number of "walk-ins" to make up the
14-18 donors, the second thing you must do is to ask some of those
waiting who weren't scheduled if they wouldn't mind going to the local
blood bank to donate.
Once those people have been decided upon, the third thing you must
do is to ask the remaining people to make appointments for later in the
hour or later in the day or for another day during this blood drive.
Appendix H
MAKING PHONE CALLS TO AND ANSWERING PHONE CALLS
FROM DONORS AND VOLUNTEERS
1. If you are answering phone calls, begin with "blood program" or
"blood drive".
2. If you are making the phone calls,
a. Phone around dinner time (4-7 p.m.) to have the best chance of
contacting the person you are trying to reach.
b. Once you contact your person,
1) Give your name and that you're from the blood program.
2) Give the dates, times, and place (s) of the blood drive.
3) Ask if te would like to donate or voltinteer (whichever
is appropriate) .
a) If the person can't, thank ter and hang up.
b) If te is willing, go on to the following appropriate
sections.
3. If the person on the phone is willing to volunteer ,
a. Ask the person what day and time te would like to volunteer.
b. Ask the person if te has ever worked at a drive before.
1) If the person has worked before and knows all the stations,
ask ter to make a choice of job (e.g.. Temperatures) and
mark it down on the volunteer schedule sheet (see Appendix
JF on how to make one) along with the day, time, and
social security number (for coding purposes later).
2) If the person has never worked at a drive before or has
worked, but doesn't know all the stations, briefly
describe all the stations and ask ter to make a choice
and mark it down on the volunteer schedule sheet along
with the day, time, and social security number.
c. If you are short on volunteers for particular days, times, or
stations, you may want to suggest to that person the day, time,
or station instead of asking ter. Usually mornings are hard to
fill with volunteers.
d. Don't forget to mention the location of the drive where the
volunteer will work.
e. When you finish, thank ter and repeat the time and day of ter
volunteering.
A. If the person on the phone is a prospective donor, but has questions
on eligibility to give blood:
a. First try to answer the person's question by looking it up on
the donor eligibility sheets (see Appendix F. for a representa-
tive donor eligibility guideline sheet).
b. If that doesn't fully answer the question, you may do two
things:
1) If the donor wants to donate at a drive where the local
blood bank will be drawing, give ter the phone number of
the blood bank so te may ask them ter question.
2) If the donor wants to donate at a Red Cross drive, have
the person stop by the drive and ask the head Red Cross
nurse, who has final say on all eligibility requirements.
5. If the person on the phone is willing to make an appointment to
donate:
a. Find out the day and time of the donation and write it down on
the donor schedule sheet. You must get the name, social
security number and, if known, the blood type of the donor
(see Appendices F and G for directions on making and filling
out a donor schedule sheet).
b. Tell the person where the blood drive is being held (if it is
held in more than one place) .
c. Thank ter and repeat the time and day of ter donation.
d. Try to schedule donors on the quarter or half hour, if at all
possible, because most walk- ins occur between the three-
quarter and quarter hours as classes end.
e. The time for donation should be about 1 hour (and the blood
program should see to it that this occurs!) but don't guar-
antee it!
f . If the person wants to donate the day te is calling, ask ter
to just stop by the drive and make an appointment or walk- in
preferably on the quarter or half hour. It would make for
administrative hassles to be taking appointments to the drive
site every 15 minutes for the same day.
Appendix I
BASIC DONOR RECRUITMENT PRINCIPLES*
1. The way that donors are recruited for a bloodraobile directly affects
how the public feels about your blood program. Students who have
been excessively pressured by their peers to donate, or threatened
or frightened by other recruitment tactics, will not support your
program and may indeed recommend that their friends not donate at
your drives.
2. The reasons that donors, who had once given at one of your drives,
have not given since should be examined and appropriate measures
(if any) taken to remedy them. If donors have not had a fairly
pleasant experience in donating their blood, they will simply not
bother coming back again.
3. Effective donor recruitment cannot depend on gimmicks, threats, or
haphazard efforts. The best recruitment is personal contact with
the potential donor: a conversation where te is hopefully persuaded
to give blood. In terms of the potential donor's motivation to
give blood, the relationship between the two people is also very
important. A friend asking a friend to donate has the best chance
of succeeding.
4. Potential donors should be told the truth. A donor should not be
told that the venapuncture "doesn't hurt at all" — let ter know
that it "may prick." If a donor expects giving blood to be com-
pletely painless, and it does hurt a little, te may not give again.
If the experience is as expected, then that donor not only will
donate again, but will encourage friends to give also.
5. Potential donors should also be made aware of what the donating
procedure entails and what te must or must not do before donating
ter blood (i.e., not taking tetracycline 48 hours before donating
and having to eat at least 4 hours before donating). In this way
te will be better informed and better equipped to inform ter friends.
Adapted from pages 4 and 5 of the American National Red Cross booklet.
Workbook for the Donor Recruitment Chairman, (ARC 1778, Feb 1971).
Appendix J
excerpts from:
SUMMARY OF RESULTS OF BLOOD DONOR MOTIVATION STUDY
by John M. Hackmann
The following results are from a questionnaire mailed to every fifth
donor who gave blood in the Volunteer Illini Project's (VIP's) blood
collection program from July 1972 through April 1973 at the University
of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign (the first year of the expanded blood
program) . It is hoped that the results will be of practical significance
to people trying to organize a blood program on their university campus
by providing some information on donor motivation to give blood. The
questionnaire was written by David P. Eisenman, VIP Blood Program Advisor.
THE U OF I DRIVE HAS ATTRACTED
MANY WHO HAD NEVER GIVEN BEFORE
56% of the donors gave their first
pint this year; since only 14% of
the donors were 18, the program is
eliciting many "first-pints" from
people who have been eligible a year
or more. Many first time donors are
reluctant — 42%. Also, 18% of those
feel their reluctance was justified.
Therefore personal, sensitive responses
are called for.
MANY U OF I DONORS CONTINUE TO
GIVE WHILE ON CAMPUS
MORE THAN 1 OUT OF 4 AT EACH
DRIVE ARE FIRST-TIME DONORS.
REPEAT DONORS ARE YOUNGER.
MOST DONORS ARE YOUNG, BUT
MANY OLDER PEOPLE GIVE.
A full 80% of all donors gave for
the first time at some U of I drive;
of the 44% repeat donors, 2/3 had
first given at the U of I , meaning
many are oriented to giving here.
27% of the time, the person approaching
the desk has never given before.
This might be good to keep in mind
when talking to prospective donors.
Mean age of one-time donors is 22.5
years; mean age of repeat donors is
21.3 years.
Mean age is 21.8 years, but 14% are
18, 23% are 19, 17% are 20, 17% are
21, 23% are 22-29, and 6% are 30 and
over.
MEN AND WOMEN GIVE IN THE SAME
PROPORTION AS THE CAMPUS
POPULATION.
60% of undergraduates are male, 40%
female. 71% of graduate students are
male, 29% are female. The proportion
of donors is not significantly different
from the campus population.
MAKING AN APPOINTMENT IS NOT
PREFERRED TO WALKING IN, EVEN
THOUGH MOST DONORS HAVE MADE
AT LEAST ONE APPOINTMENT.
47% prefer appointments, 46% walk in.
But 62% have made at least one appoint-
ment.
DONORS KNOW BLOOD SHORTAGES
EXIST, HOW LONG BLOOD CAN BE
KEPT, AND HOW OFTEN THEY CAN
GIVE.
ALMOST ALL DONORS SPEND 1/2
HOUR TO 1-1/2 HOURS TO GIVE:
THEY REPORT A VARIETY OF
REACTIONS .
85% replied that there is not usually
enough blood. Estimates for the most
blood one can give were 5.4/man/yr.
and 5.0/woman/yr. But most thought
accidents create the largest need for
blood, when actually it is surgery,
especially elective surgery. Also,
donors estimated the need for blood at
33 pts/100 people/yr; in fact, the
need is more like 3 pts/100 people/yr.
in Illinois. About 3/4 of the donors
knew how long blood can be stored.
"Giving blood takes:"
15 minutes
2%
30 minutes
14%
1 hour
68%
1-1/2 hours
14%
2 hours
3%
"After spending the required fifteen
minutes in the canteen, most donors
feel:
Feel no different at all 46%
Are a little tired for an
hour 27%
Are tired for a day or so 21%
Feel better than they did
before they gave 5%
Feel some effect for a
week 3%
The results of Section Three: Opinions
are included in the copy of the ques-
tionnaire attached at the end.
MOST DONORS HAVE FAMILY OR
FRIENDS WHO ARE DONORS.
82% had a close friend or relative who
has given. 77% know one or more of
their four closest firends to be a
donor, and 71% know one or more of four
closest friends to be a donor this year,
60% have a donor parent, 44% other rela-
tives donors. Several donors report
20 or more of their friends and relatives
have given .
MOST DONORS HAVE BEEN
ENCOURAGED TO GIVE, BUT
MOST REPORT THEIR DECISION
TO GIVE WAS MADE PRIVATELY.
60% were "encouraged", mostly by friends
(77%) . But 72% report their decision
was a private one. It is interesting
that only 1% of "encouraged" donors
were encouraged by their parents,
although 60% of donors had a donor
parent .
USUALLY DONORS GIVE AGAIN
FOR THE SAME REASONS.
40% report no change in reason while 28%
report a change. But 60% of those report-
ing "a general desire to help people"
report that they continue to give for the
same reason.
DONORS GAVE FOR I4ANY REASONS,
THE MOST COMMON BEING A GEN-
ERAL DESIRE TO HELP PEOPLE.
The next page gives the distribution of
reasons. The first twenty-six were
taken directly from The Gift Relationship
by Richard Titmuss to permit a comparison
with the only other study of blood donor
motivation this author found. "General
desire to help people is by far the big-
gest category, followed by "personal
appeal". A comparison by sex is included.
CONCENTRATION ON NEED NOT
COVERAGE
Since repeat donors are primarily respon-
sible for the volume VIP collects (if
each donor gave exactly one pint per year,
his "quota" under many "blood assurance"
plans, which are really blood replacement
cost insurance plans, VIP would have col-
lected only 3,300 instead of 6,000 pints)
a successful program should concentrate
on altruistic repeat donors. This was
done last year, in that publicity stressed
need , not coverage , and mailing lists of
donors were maintained to encourage
repeaters.
Categories (ined tn c lac-.^ifying donor':; anr.wt.TS to the qiK'stion:
'Could you say why you first decidi-d to be a blood donor?'*
British Donors U of T lilood Donors
Total ,
London Study
26.1*
1.1*
9.8
0.8
6.J.
3.5
6.7
5.0
1.1
1.8
Total, _
U of I Study V
35.1)
3.0
6.Y
v^
^ (
32
1
6
1
9
5
1
100. o;8
100. ojs
*^ Description
32 General desire to help people; a
good thing to do
To help Goc'ety or the state
0+ Medical-research, "Health Services",
Red Cross, etc.
Babies
2 Gratitude for good health
Repayment for transfusion they
received
3 Repayment for transfusion of a friend
i* Repayment for future needs
Replacing another member of the
family who can no longer give
1 Awareness of need: through Job or
volunteer work
Awareness of need: as a hospital
patievit
1 Awareness of need: visiting in a
hospital
0+ Awareness of need: witnessing or
reading oT an accident
Awareness of need: as a motorist
1 Duty: religious
5 Duty: societal
1 In a war effort
1 While in armed forces
1 Rare blood group
1 To obtain benefit : Blood type
discovery
To obtain benefit: Health check
0+ To obtain benefit: "Giving is
healthy"
13 Personal appeal
3 General appeal
k Miscellaneous
5 More than one type of answer
The following sub-categories were used in the U of I study and put back in the
above categories for comparison with the London study:
0+
5
3
0+
1
1
h
Giving people something for free
No Answex'
Curiosity, impulse, desire for a
new experisnce
Specific support for the conversion
to an all-volunteer blood
collection system in Illinois
Accepted Christ
Help group reach ^oal
Personal growth, overcoming fear
Class credit
Duty: Participation in blood
assurance plan
Needed tne money
General Awareness of need
* Categories were used for comparison with results in The Gift Relationship
by Prof. Richard Titmuss (Random House, 1971). A copy is available in the
VIP office.
DONORS AGREE CONSIDERABLY ON
SOME REASONS THAT MOST MOTI-
VATED THEM AND LEAST MOTIVATED
THEM.
The instructions were:
"Put an "X" next to the three reasons that have most motivated you
to give blood and an "0" next to the three reasons that have least
motivated you."
REASON :
Ratio
%"X" %"0"
X/0
71 3
23.7
54 2
27.0
45
34
28
21
8
13
9
15
5.6
2.6
3.1
1.4
"MOST"
It makes me feel good to help people, even strangers
I heard about shortages of blood and felt I should
help
Maybe someday I'll need blood; if people don't give,
other people could die
I want blood coverage for myself or my family
A lot of people can't give blood; it's up to those
of us who can
I benefit from society; therefore I should contribute
to society
"LEAST'
19
61
.3
15
48
.3
4
43
.1
6
42
.1
6
25
.2
6
8
.8
I got credit in a course I'm taking for giving blood
I wanted to know my blood type
My blood is a rare type and relatively hard to get
People I know were giving; it seemed like the thing
to do
I was replacing blood used by someone I know or
heard about
My blood type is always needed since many people
have the same type as mine
FIVE REASONS APPEAR TO BE THE
"CONVENTIONAL WISDOM" OF WHY
OTHERS DON'T GIVE.
77% "Afraid it will hurt"
44% "Don't have the time"
28% "Can't give; they would be rejected"
24% "Afraid of feeling weak afterwards"
20% "Afraid of fainting"
Thus "fear" and "being afraid" are the
big reasons donors think other don't give
— but Titmuss found that few say they are
afraid. Only one of four of these same
donors said they were reluctant out of
some fear.
Richard Titmuss, The Gift Relationship (Random House, 1971)
MOST DONORS WANTED TO GIVE
MORE OFTEN.
58% reported they did not give as often
as they would have liked to; donors
reported they would like to give a mean
of 3.3 pints/year in college. (This is
a higher figure than the 2.9 above,
probably because only 40% answered this
particular question.) 94% said they
would give as much or more than last
year; 70% said they would give more
pints this year.
SOME SUGGESTIONS WERE OFFERED
TO ENCOURAGE MORE DONATIONS.
MANY DONORS WERE REACHED BY
SEVERAL PUBLICITY EFFORTS.
Here is the break-down on suggestions:
More dates, different dates 8%
Push human side 1%
Better advertising 5%
Remind appointments 1%
More room for walk-ins 0+%
Earlier advertising 0%
Tell people why the are 0+%
rejected
Other, more than one 9%
No Answer 74%
"How did you first find out about this
year's expanded blood program?"
Newspapers
27%
Posters, flyers
10%
Card at registration
6%
Radio or TV
1%
Floor official or house
government
1%
Teacher or adviser
1%
"What program?"
1%
Other, more than one
39%
No Answer
4%
WOMEN ARE REJECTED MORE
FREQUENTLY .
26% of the women have been rejected at
least once; men 13%. This is a signifi-
cant difference statistically. Overall
one donor is rejected for every 8 pints,
and 18% of donors are rejected at least
once.
RED CROSS BLOOD MOBILES:
WHAT THE DONORS THINK.
74% report they have given, or tried to
give, to the Red Cross; this represents
in the sample 274 donors coming to give
480 times. Thus 62% of the attempts to
give were to the Red Cross.
"What did you like bes t about giving
blood at the Red Cross Blood mobiles?"
People are funny, friendly, 24%
or caring
Cookies, cake, canteen 3%
Convenient, fast, close 25%
Professional staff 3%
Easy way to help others 0+%
Ear test 0%
Other, more than one 18%
No Answer 27%
"It was right on campus and easy to get
to."
"Friendly people"
"Convenient"
"People are nice, careful, sensitive to
your needs."
"What did you like least about Red Cross
Blood mobiles?"
Hard tables, flat position 5%
Long lines, waiting, 27%
bottlenecks
Unfriendly, impersonal, or 5%
complaining nurses
No screens between waiting 1%
and donating areas
Needle 1%
Seating arrangements cause 1%
confusion
Unskilled people taking blood 2%
Other, more than one 16%
No Answer 42%
"Once the seating arrangement met with
confusion. Those just coming got
taken first."
"The lack of ways of keeping people in
line from station to station."
"Having to wait; it took two hours"
"Badly placed needle"
"I don't like lying on the tables."
"Feel like a reptile"
"The nurses"
"The students put you at ease, the
staff was kind of mechanical."
"Impersonality of the situation"
DONORS FIRST GIVE AT ALL AGE
LEVELS, BUT USUALLY WHEN YOUNG.
Mean age of VIP donors was 19.7 years;
the mode (most frequent) was 18, and
the median age (half older, half
younger) was 19.
16-19 63%
20-24 31%
25-29 6%
30 <1%
A FEW DONORS SAID THEY WOULD
NOT GIVE AGAIN AT A U OF I
DRIVE.
10% told why they would not give again.
Too long a wait 1%
Graduating, leaving 6%
Ineligible 2%
Might get sick 0+%
Bad experience 1%
Only would give for friend 0%
Give regularly elsewhere 0%
Other, more than one 0+%
No Answer 90%
MANY DONORS COMMENTED ON THE "Everybody seemed very competent and
STUDENT VOLUNTEERS IN THE friendly."
BLOOD PROGRAM. "They were all very friendly, outgoing,
reassuring, and sure of what they
were doing."
"Great people; they weren't pushy,
just very nice, very encouraging
and sympathetic to first time
donors who are afraid. I got sick
after I donated the first time and
everyone was s£ nice about it!"
"...Can tell they appreciate your giving
blood."
"They cared about each individual."
DONORS' OPINIONS
Here we ask donors their ideas on how society should deal with the need for
adequate supplies of safe, disease-free blood, and their attitudes regarding
voluntary blood donors.
AGREE DISAGREE NO ANSWER
18
53
68
93
48
80
45
30
51
Everyone who is able to give blood should be
required to, rather like jury duty.
There would be plenty of volunteer blood dona-
tion if it were more convenient for most people
to give blood.
Many hospitals make patients pay $25 a pint for
any transfused blood they fail to replace by
recruiting donors. If this fee were dropped,
removing this incentive to recruit replacement
pints, blood shortages would worsen.
Americans try to buy out of too many problems.
Instead, we ought to look for ways to Increase
social awareness and get common action from
everybody.
At this point in my life, I don't get many oppor-
tunities to help others in any important way.
AGREE DISAGREE NO ANSWER
65 33 2 Many people will give blood only if they know
someone who needs it.
18 81 2 In our society you either have to pay people
to do something or make them do it. Generally
speaking, large-scale voluntary action is
impractical today in the United States.
95 4 1 Giving blood makes a person feel good for
helping someone else.
8 87 5 The way to solve the blood problem is to find
tests to detect diseases in blood and then
just buy blood from anyone willing to sell it
if his blood passes the tests.
63 33 4 It's OK for hospitals to make a charge for
blood as an incentive to get the patient to
recruit donors to replace what he received.
But If the patient and his family are all
ineligible and he can't find friends, he
should not be charged.
4 93 3 "Do-gooders" make too many demands on us as
individuals. Most of their causes should be
taken up bj' government or individuals directly
affected, not by people like me.
57 41 2 If people could be sure that every pint of
blood they gave went to help someone, without
a charge being made for it, more people would
give blood. (NOTE: NO pint given in a U of I
Blood Drive is sold. Recipients pay only a
lab fee and a hospital fee for the transfusion,
not for the blood.)
81 15 4 Blood Drives probably give most students their
easiest and best opportunity to help others
while they are in college.
59 37 5 What this country needs is a comprehensive
health program for all citizens supported
entirely through taxes.
Appendix K
CHECKLIST FOR INSPECTING POTENTIAL BLOODNOBILE SITES*
Location
Date Inspected
REQUIREMENTS
YES
NO
COMMENTS
Adequate ventilation
j
S
Quiet
1
>
Atmosphere
Cheerful
r
Clear, free of dust
Floor not slippery
Sufficient lig^hting
li
Heating/air conditioning
Free of flies and insects
Layout ,
Location
Campus student traffic
Centralized location
Availability
., .
Floor can be cleared
Visibility of site in bldg
1
Is room large enough?
Ground floor preferred
Ease for loading/unloading
i
Student composition (dorms)
t
Parking for:
Blood drawing staff
Blood mobile trucks
Red Cross volunteers
1
S
'i
y'
\
1 Shuttle to blood bank
k
1
I
Electrical outlets j \
Facilities
Clean rest rooms
Telephone i
Ordering refreshments |
. » i
' Equipment
' needed (to
; be supplied
Chairs j
Tables |
Coat racks and hangers ■
Trash cans (large) ;
Mop
!
' by site)
Bucket
!
Broom
Heavy duty extention cord
j
\
(50 and 25 feet)
i
* Taken from "Checklist for Inspecting Potential Bloodmobile Sites" page 3 of the
American National Red Cross booklet — Physical Arrangements for Bloodmobile
Visits (ARC 177 3, April 1970)
Appendix L
BLOOD DONOR INVENTORY SOFTWARE PACKAGE
This is a collection of computer programs designed to make mailing,
phone, and address lists for blood donor recruitment. These programs
access a file (called the Donor Master File) which contains for each
donor :
social security number
name
local address
local zip
local phone number
home address
home zip
sex (desired for some component drawings)
blood type
date of last donation
acceptance code (i.e., donor, temporary reject
or permanent reject)
rare blood factor (if any)
The social security number was chosen as the unique identification
for donors because names are prone to spelling errors, abbreviation
errors, and nickname errors and the practice of taking social security
numbers of blood donors is widespread.
Because college students move very frequently, it is a problem to
keep abreast of their current local address. To help you with this
problem, you should consult your university office of admissions and
records. If this office is given an individual's social security number,
it usually can give you that person's current address and even home
address if you need it. If this is done at the beginning of every
semester, your records will be up-to-date. (Home addresses are kept so
summer mailings can be made encouraging students to donate at home.)
The social security number is never printed.
Mailing Lists
Typical strategy for making a mailing list, for example, might be
to make a subset of the Donor Master File. First, a subset is made
only of those donors who are currently eligible. Then the zip codes
could be used to further limit the size of the subset to those who could
be expected to respond to this particular bloodmobile.
Subsets can be made by:
range of zip codes
list of specific social security numbers
range over last donation date
acceptance code
blood type
1% sample of all donors
10% sample of all donors
subset of subsets
You "can limit any list to eligible donors within reasonable com-
muting distance, or all known donors, or any other subset criterion.
Phone List
To make a photie list, a subset is specified according to the
desired blood type or types (and perhaps the zip code or codes) . The
list is printed in order by blood type, with name, address, phone, and
blood type (and perhaps last donation date) for each donor in the subset.
An interesting phone list that could be made is a list of temporary
rejects from 30 days ago or more. These people are often eligible and
eager to give blood now. Some indication of the length of time you
expect this person to be ineligible (pregnancy, surgery, etc.) should
be kept, but many temporary rejects were simply anemic on the day they
tried to give blood, or have other reasons of indefinite time length.
Address Lists
Address lists are sorted in order by zip code, then street name,
then street number, then apartment number.
These lists are particularly suited to dormitory bloodmobiles, as
each dormitory floor recruiter can be given a list of donors in ter
housing unit, making personal contact feasible.
Updating the File
The task of keeping the Donor Master File up to date is fairly
simple. Once a month an update card is coded for each donor who gave
blood at an on-campus drive, including social security number, blood
type, date the blood was given and acceptance code. Then a name attach-
ment card is coded for all new donors (not in the Donor Master File) .
The name attachment card is used to file the name, local address, local
zip code, phone number, and sex into the Donor Master File based on
social security number. In addition, once a month all University related
walk-in donors and call-in donors (i.e. not drive donors) to the local
blood bank (if you are working with one) are coded and entered.
If you v/ould like to have more information on these programs or
actually obtain them, please write to:
John M. Hackmann
Blood Donor Research Group
105 Advanced Computation Building
Urbana, Illinois 61801
(217) 333-4975
Appendix M
HAILINGS TO DONORS
Letters mailed to all eligible donors just prior to a drive are a
major, though expensive, recruitment tool. One study of mail solicita-
tion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign showed that
people who received mail solicitation were 30% more likely to donate.
Thus, though the total number of donors generated by a mailing would not
be sufficient to justify its cost in any one university drive, the
increased general awareness of the program to the donor, along with any
educational information about blood you may want to include in it, may
provide enough justification for it.
The procedure to send a letter to donors should be something like
the following:
1. Have the Donor Relations committee draft a letter with the dates,
times, and location(s) of the drive. A "big pitch" isn't really
necessary to get these people to donate, since they already made
the decision to be a blood donor. Make the letter straightforward
and informative and have it checked by the Director.
2. Have the letter typed up and copied (ITNL #18).
3. If you don't have the assistance of computer facilities:
a. Hand address the envelopes
b. Fold the letters and "stuff" them into the envelopes
c. Separate them according to zip code (if you have more than one
zip code in your college community)
d. Bulk mail them (bulk-rate postage is a fraction of first class rates)
4. If you do have computer facilities:
a. Have mailing labels made up
b. Give the mailing labels and letters to your mailing center
(ITNL #17) and they should label the envelopes for you, fold
and stuff the letters, and bulk mail them. Often they can put
labels directly on your folded letter, further reducing costs.
5. Make sure that you leave yourself plenty of time before the drive to
get your mailing out.
Citing an "acute shortage of blood/' the Doctors did not want to call the sitna-
Greater Nev; York Blooc^ Program has appe- - tion a crisis . . .but they are concerned
aled to doctors in the metropolitan area because tho, iVi&t w^eefe OH. 10 day^ a^tOA
to postpone all but urgent surgery .,, Nm VzoA'^ ^4 tAaditionaUiy a tow poAA.-
od ^on. donaJUovib,
— from The New York Times, last week
To: October Blood Donors
From: VIP Blood Program
Did you know that a person can give blood every other month -- up to five
times a year?
GIVING ANOTHER PINT NOW WOULD BE AN ESPECIALLY VALUABLE CONTRIBUTION.
Blood inventories are low. And, as tlie T imes points out, donors are scarce.
Having monthly blood drives allows us to give more blood, and to give it
when it is especially needed. Our 575 pints in December, for example, helped
central Illinois and Chicago through t-he holidays witJi out shortages like
New York's.
We Imow people are pressed for time right now --we are, ourselves. We've
added nurses and beds to cut waiting times to zero, ^"'e'll do even better
than last month, when over 75% of our donors got in and out in less tlian
an hour, total time.
With Red Cross and local inventories lov,^ we need 750 donors this week. As
of Sunday night, less than 200 were signed up.
PLEASE give another pint NOW. if you haven't given since Thanksgiving.*
TODAY, TO^DPR^'Af, P^ IVEDNESDAY -- JANUARY BLOOD DRIVE
January 8, 9, ?- 10
mini Room C, Illini Union
9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Walk- ins welcome. Appointments: VIP at 333-1020
Best times see^n to be 11:30 - 1:30 and after 4 p.m.
'uitH Inlji^-. a friend I
SAMPLE DONOR NEWSLETTER
HAVE you GWEN QLOOV LATELV? [VOU CAN GIVE C\/ERV UIGHT WEEfCS, UP TO 6 PIUTS/ VEAll) \
Gll/fc WtXT Wee/C iUov, n, U, U] at SHtmAtJ hall, LAR.oa. ISR I AppOA.ntm(inUt S33''1020\
ypi.uNiEEiij_ujiNa^ROJ^ ^M:)gi?,i^gQGgAMJiJJli^!n,^ J TJLg. NOV. :u
Do nutlona. Ahead oj j..i.st Year . . .
'. . T^But aeTund^^'h'i s" Yo.ir 's Coal
Cilice June 1, lt?75, about 3600
pints of blood have been given
by U of I students and staff
through on-campus bloodmobiles
and direct donations at 'the CCBB
(Champaign County Blood Bank.)
Last year 2000 pints had been
contributed at tliis time.
This year's goal of 10,000 pints
reflects expansion of the program
to include blood agencies from
the entire State of Illinois.
In the past our blood remained
primarily within central Illi-
nois, We worked mostly with the
Peoria Regional Red Cross and
the CCBB.
This year more blood will go to
Chicago, through Mid- America Red
Cross and increased CCBB exports.
We help southern and western Illi-
nois through the Galesburg and St.
Louis Red Cross Blood Centers.
We had hoped to collect 4000
pints by Nov. I; so, although
we are running 80% aliead of last .
year, we need to keep up the ef-
fort if we are to reach our new
goal and give the agencies tne
blood they ^re counting on,
Vou can help by continuing to
give every tim e ^fou are el i^;ible
and able , and by encouraging your
friends to become blood donors.
Every year blood' stio'-tages appear across Mn- i>»o.
in December and continue typically thru January,
The reason seems to be that accident and disease
rates are up, but donors are traveling or invol-
ved in holiday plans so donations fall off.
The result is often very serious. Patients like
hemophiliacs and leukemics who need blood all the
time are threatened with unnecessary pain and
even with irreversible damage. Other patients
who ^f.e schetlaled for non-einergency surgery find
their operations cancelled. This can iiave serious
financial and psychological consequences.
foA. ^(LveMxZ LjecLU U o^ J 6tadzvU6 and '{>ta£{y have.
heJ^-ped olU du-u..ng tlm M-iyvtz/i holiday euew tkougk
cZa&6(L6 oAz not maoXuiQ, Dooors who will be eli-
gible to give during the vacation period fill out
pledge cards. VIP distributes them to the blood
banks nearest the donors' vacation addresses.
IF YOU GAVE IN OCTOBER, YOU WILL NEXT BE ELIGIBLE.
TO GIVE ON DECEflBER 20 — JUST WHEN THE VACATION
BEGINS. THE PLEDGE PROJECT NEEDS YOU l\ Fill j
out one of the enclosed cards and return it to i
VIP, 328 mini Union. Then you'll be available j
if blood is needed near your home over break. '
Pints given at home may be the most important q;E
all the blood U of I students give all year. But
remember — blood is always needed . Each donor
makes the maximum contribution by giving every
time he has an opportunity and can spare the time,
I f you' re eligibl e to^ gi ve at the November or De-
cember drive9» don ' t f i 1 1 ou t a p ledge ca rd yet .
Try to give on camjjus if you can. If you can't,
you can send a pledge in to us before you leave
for vacation in December. Please pass a pledge
on to a friend. Our goal is 1500 pledges.
HOViJ CAia WE DO BETTER? VJE isJElilD YCU lO TELL US J
At the October drive in the Union a donor told us he finds it difficult to read while
waitijig at the different stations. His problem is he is afraid he'll lose his place.
From now on each donor will be given a number at the Temperatures station, written in
the corner of his meidcal history sheet. Then we'll do our best to keep you in order
as you go through. And if you think you've lost your place, just ask if your n'omber
is up. Then you'll be able to read or chat without worrying. IF YOU HAVE SUGGESTIONS
let us know. Send a note to "SUGGESTIONS — VIP BLOOD PROGRAM, 320 Illini Union.
Our goal is to make it easy to give blood,
keep coming back, several times each year.
Our program can succeed only if donors
Help us do a bettei job to serve you.
-2~
BLOOD PROGRAM T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE AT DRIVES WHY DON'T MORE PEOPLE C7IVE BLOOD?
The first batch of T-shirts has arriveOand
can be picked up by those who ordered them
at the VIP office, 328 Illini Union. The
shirts have tne blood program logo on the
front and the donor's blood type on back.
T-shirt order forms
will be available
at the November
bloodmobiles .
The price is $3.60,
our cost. The de-
sign is white on
red background.
DID YOU KNOW...
According to the Blood Donor Research
Group at the University, the literature on
blood donation indicates that non-donors
are just as aware of the importance of
blood donation as donors. They also thinV
""""*" '■■ ' ^' blood donation is a
SEPTEMBER DONORS: TIME TO GIVE AGAIN i! I go^^i thing to do.
Elgkt wcefe/6 will be up j^o/i donoKA out
t'm JSR and GkhqoKlj 'Ofuvz bloodmobiles
in SzptmbeJif iiut In tirm ^on, tke No--
vQfr.koA dUve., ' Thd REV CROSS and.CCBS
i\UZl acce.pt you cut any o^ tkcse. places
and :U.mQj,:
^HERMAN ^^ALL
WED., THURS., FRI., NOV. 12, 13,
10 ~ 12 A.M., 1-6 P.M.
1^
WED., THURS,
11:30
Blood is a living
tissue. It cannot
routinely be kept
longer than three
weeks . That is
one reason we
hoJd frequent
campus bloodmobiles -- r.Iiat way Illinois
always has blood from U of I students.
Another reason for frequent drives is to
give donors as many opportunities as pos-
sible to give. REPEAT DONATIONS are the
only way we can meet our goal.
ISR
FRIDAY ONLY
5:30
GIVE AT THE NOVEMBER DLOODMOblLES
The difference comes
down to fear. Non-
donors usually indi-
cate that they ex-
pect blood donation
to be painful . And
they arc afraid they
couldn't take the
discomfort.
A survey of U of I
donors indicated
that 35% feel com-
pletely "normal" an
hour after donating.
5% say they feel
better; the remaining 10% report some ef-
fects lasting from a day to a week.
YOU CAN HELP recruit new donors by telling
frankly your experiences as a donor. The
research group has found that most people
become donors because someone they know
and trust told them about giving.
CHANC ELLOR, BLOOD AGENCIES, _ CAf^PUS OFFICES SUP POR T VIP DL OOD PROGRAM
Those of us managing the VIP Blood Program are grateful to our group of over 100 stu-
dent volunteers wiio help with the drives and with backup projects (such as making this
mailing!). The program also requires considerable material support, both dollars and
in-kind contributions.
The mini Union, v/hich is studeat-fee-supported, has provxded space, set-up assistance
ciud food at no charge since the expanded blood program began in 1972. v;e are grateful
to Harold Licht and Earl Finder, as well as ?;arjorie Arkwright, for their help in the
Union. Itow that bloodmobilss are being held in residence halls, their staffs are gi-
ving us similar assistance, which helx:>s enormously.
i-Jailings of notices and blood donor cards, ana set-up costs when bloodmobiles are set
up in classroom builaings, require funds. Chancellor Pcltason has found private funds
to nelp us through our first three years. We itot>e this is the last year we will need
access to these scarce dollars.
Tj:e Champaign County Blood Bank ^s now making monthly contributions to VIP. This news-
letter is being paid for from these funds. Tho Peoria Regional Red Cross Blood Center
makes £-:^mi-annual payments to VIP to offset mailing costs and other cash expenses.
We also receive unbelievable patience and assistance from numerous campiis offices and
person/.el. 'Jhis newsier ter we would like to single out iMyron Stipp of Campus Parking
:hose nelp with our parking logistics has been nothing short of noroic.
Jt.:VIC. ■Ji' ^"^op us a line. We'll answer them in future newsletters.
LVcRY iNlf.; LGivlOR MEANS DOZENS OF PINTS, OVtU HIS LIFETIME. ShiARE THE DONOR EXPEklEiCE
Appendix N
STATISTICS TO BE MEASURED AT END OF EACH DRIVE
1. Percentage of goal obtained
to show how good the overall effort of the blood program was
in recruiting donors for the bloodmobile.
2. Percentage and number of first time donors
to see how well you are building up your donor population
3. Percentage of donors deferred
to be used as a better percentage figure in scheduling
donors (Appendix G)
4. Percentage of donor reactions
to compare between drives. If it is abnormally high in a
particular place and time, an examination of the physical set-
up may reveal the cause (such as no air conditioning on a
humid 95° (F) day). Needless to say, a remedy for this should
be sought for the next drive.
5. Percentage of "no shows"
to be used as a better percentage figure in scheduling donors
(Appendix G)
6. Percentage of people who made appointments
to see what percentage of your goal should be appointments
before a drive to insure that, with walk- ins, you will reach
your goal.
7. If you have a dormitory drive, percentage of donors who live in the
dorm
to see where the majority of donors in a dorm drive come from
and hence how to better recruit donors for a drive in that
dorm.
8. Number of volunteer hours
to see how many volunteer hours it is necessary to schedule to
get a certain number of pints.
Appendix
SAMPLE LETTERS TO BE SENT TO
FACULTY. STAFF. VOLUNTEERS
AND PARENTS
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT U R B A N A - C H A M P A I G N
OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR 107 COBLE MALL
FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS CHA^1PAIG^: , :i'"-IOIS 61820
NOVEMBER 2H , 1072
To: Parents oF Students at the r'rLana-Chanipaign Campus
From: David Eisenman, Staff Associate "' " ' '"^
iJM ^
Your son or daughter may be one of several tliousand students who have already given
blood this fall at the new monthly blood drives sponsored by Volunteer Illini Pro-
jects. VIP's program helps the Champaign County Blood Bank and the Peoria Regional
Red Cross Blood Program meet growing Illinois blood needs. Besides meeting county
and regional needs, both agencies ship blood throughout the State in rt spofjsc to
emergencies .
In gratitude for this considerably expanded U of I effort, the Red Cross has inclu-
ded all students, faculty, and staff at Urbana-Champaign AND THEIR IMMEDIATE FAMI-
LIES in a Blood Entitlement Program .
Throughout the United States, there are three chronic problems with blood:
-often it is not available when you need it;
•sometimes when it is_ available, it transmits fatal diseases;
•frequently patients have to pay a stiff fee for every pint they
can't arrange to replace.
This last problem is solved for you and for every other U of I family. The Red
Cross will see to it that you do not have to pay for, or find donors to replace ,
any blood you or your children receive anywhere in tlie United States or Canada this
year (through September 15, 1973) .
But no one can guarantee that adequate, safe, blood will actually be available when
a member of your family needs it. That depends critically on you and on the other
potential blood donors in your own community.
Red Cross coverage of U of I families in no way lessens the need for y our blood in
your community. Increased student donations are improving the over-all blood supply
in Illinois. Regional centers can rush blood to local hospitals in emergencies.
But that takes time and at best can only supplement what you have available locally.
The members of VIP, with whom I have been working, want me to encourage you to join
us in converting Illinois to an all-volunteer blood system. This is the year to
end the problems of inadequate, unsafe, and uneconomical blood supplies in Illinois.
This time of the year is especially good to contact you local community or hospital
blood bank, or the Red Cross. (In Chicago, contact "Bi^oOD BROTHERS", 332-2272.)
Sickness and accidents increase in the winter weather, but donors tend to fall off
in number .
Call your nearest blood collecting agency today to register to give blood. They
will be very grateful for your offer of assistance.
nd teil tiiem the U of I students sent you.
University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign
OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS 107 COBLE HAIL CHAMPAIGN, ILLINOIS 61820
December 5, 1975
To: All Academic and Non-Academic Staff
From: David Eisenman, Staff Associate
Advisor to the VIP Blood Program 333-4975
Enclosed is your RED CROSS Blood Assurance card for this year . See the reverse
side of this note for a more complete explanation of blood assurance than ap-
pears on the card.
A PARTICULAPJ.Y CRITICAL SEASON FOR THE ILLINOIS BLOOD SUPPLY IS ABOUT TO BEGIN
From roughly Christmas week through January, hospitals all over the country
experience shortages of blood. Sickness and accidents go up. Blood donations
go down. Consequently, surgery is postponed and sometimes emergency patients
suffer unnecessarily from lack of blood or blood components.
Last Christmas/New Years roughly 350 University staff responded to a letter
like this one. The Champaign County Blood Bank called in a very high fraction
of that number, and Champaign suffered no blood shortage.
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED AGAIN THIS YEAR. Blood use in this community has gone up
substantially since last year. If you are willing and able to give blood over
the semester break, please fill out the coupon below and return it, indicating
the period (s) in which you will be available.
NOTE: A number of local church congregations have begun blood programs with the
Champaign County Blood Bank. If your church is participating, simply ask
that ycur pint be credited to your church's program, even if you are
called in through the University program. All donation programs are
coordinated and are committed to mutual support.
Volunteer Illini Projects Blood Program, 328 Illini Union
CZDyeS. I'll give a pint in Champaign if called over the holiday.
i I I 've given blood at the Champaign County Blood Bank before.
Name: Blood Type (if known): Rh
Home Address: Home Phone:
Campus Address: Campus Phone:
Datt of Last Donation (if known):
Are you goxng to oe out of town during the vacation? From: To:
(SEE OTHER SIDE)
WHAT IS BLOOD ASSURANCE?
The three most serious problems facing the blood transfusion service in the
United States are:
o AVAILABILITY ; Blood of all needed types is not always available in
sufficient amounts when and where it is needed.
o QUALITY ; Sometimes, even when blood of the proper types is
available, it has been supplied by paid donors who are
much mor'' likely to be carriers of serious or even
fatal diseases transmitted through transfusion than
volunteer donors. (In Illinois, blood used in trans-
fusions must be labeled as to source.)
o COST : To increase the supply of voluntarily-donated blood,
many hospitals require transfused patients to recruit
sufficient donors to replace blood they have received
or pay a monetary "replacement fee" for each unit of
blood not replaced.
BLOOD ASSURANCE deals only with this third problem. After a transfused patient
is released from the hospital, membership in a blood assurance program will
relieve him of any obligation to recruit replacement donors or to pay non-
replacement fees.
Blood assurance benefits are available to individuals who have themselves given
blood or who are members of groups which, collectively, have donated significant
amounts of blood. It is only right to free such individuals from obligations to
replace or pay fees in lieu of blood, since they have acted to contribute volun-
tarily to the available blood supply.
Thus, blood assurance is primarily an economic benefit for those covered: if_
blood was found for them when they needed it, at least they won't have to pay
for it or find donors to replace what they have used.
HOWEVER, NO PERSON OR ORGANIZATION CAN GUARANTEE THAT VOLUNTARILY-DONATED BLOOD
WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ANY PERSON WHENEVER AND WHEREVER IT IS NEEDED.
All hospitals and blood service organizations are ethically bound to do their
best to find blood for EVERY patient, whether or not a member of a blood assur-
ance program. Their ability to provide voluntarily-donated blood for any patient
depends solely and entirely on whether enough people have given blood voluntarily
in advance of that patient's need. Hospitals and blood banks routinely exchange
blood and assist one another in responding to emergency situations. But they
can only share what has al ready been donated. IF NOBODY GIVES, NOBODY GETS.
Most healthy people between the ages of 17 and 65 who weight more than 110
pounds can give Dlood as often as SIX TIMES A YEAR, with a minimum, of eight
weeks between donations. The Champaign County Blood Bank will be happy to
answer questions about the eligibility of any prospective donor. Their phone
numh.ir is 36''-220".
THE BTi; QUESTION - WHETHER THERE WILL HE BLOOD AVAILABl.F ]F YOU OR A MEMBER OF
YOUR FAMILY NEEDS IT - CAN ONLY BE ANS\^RED BY YOU "^M) YOUR NKIGHBORS GIVING
BLOOD REGULARLY AS OFTEN AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN.
Volunteer I Mini Projects, Incorporated
328 mini Union North
Urbana, Illinois 61801
(217) 333-1020
Dear Volunteer,
You may have already received a letter from me a week or so ago about
volunteering for some of the first blood program activities of the school
year, but this letter was written to you because you have shown us that you
are interested in t.aking charge of a blood drive in your housing unit or
neighborhood on campus or in taking a staff responsibility with the blood
program. Listed below are descriptions of the various committees that you
may want to work under.
PUBLICITY COMMITTEE head - Regina Unti
needs approximately 4+ people
This committee will be responsible for all media coordination ie.
radio announcements, newspaper ads, D.I. notices, posters, etc, for the
Union drives and will help the dorm coordinators organize their publicity.
DONOR RELATIONS MP RBCRUITl^iENT head needed, preferably who has previoieLy
worked on either of the donor relations or
donor recruitment committees
needs approximately 8+ people
This committee will have several responsibilities:
1). recruiting donors for both the Union and dorm drives. This will
involve speaking and s?iowing short fij.ns to various groups as potential
donors ( dom i Tories or fraternities £ind sorci'lties ), studying various means
of donor recruitment (there is a professor interested in doing a research
project on this) and mailings to inform donors of upcoming blood drives for
which they are eligible to give. This committee will also be in charge of
continuing donor recruitment (bymsans of mailings) over Christmc s and
summer vacations.
2). supplyir/g donors with as many services as possible. This will include
the mailing of Red Cross ;md Champaign County Blood Bank (GCBB) donation cards,
planning and executing special events at the blood, drives, taking surveys
involving aonor feedback, working wit}^. Computer services (another committee)
established 1963
- 2 -
to code donor information onto computer tape, and handling any complaints that
the donors may have about anything: at the drives,
5). providing educational materii 1 and information to both donors and
volunteers concerning areas of blood collection and any other pertinent
information on blood.
VOLUNTEER RELATIONS AUD LOGISTICS head - Donna Bernardoni
needs quite a few people.
This committee's primary responsibility will be to contact, recruit,
and coordinate the volimteers for the blood drives - both Union and dorm.
This includes contacting and recruiting new volxmteers at the beginning of
the semester and throiighout the year, updating the mailing list and file
cards, giving feedback to the vol\mteers and keeping them informed of the
time and location of the blood drives, and supervising at the blood drives.
In order to accomplish all these objectives, there are going to have
to be several other positions in this committee. These positions are
described below;
a), dorm coordinator for each dorm complex, (~10 total) This person's
duties will include signing up volxanteers and donors for their drive and
handling publicity for that dorm complex,
b), floor blood program representative (^vSO total). This will be a
person on every floor of a university dorm to help the dorm coordinator with
his responsibilities on a floor by floor basis,
c), someone to be in charge of the 8 Red Cross visits to the dorms.
By "in charge" I mean making sure the dorm coordinators and floor blood
prograia representatives know what they are supposed to be doing, serving as
an intermediate between the dorm volunteers and the blood program committees,
and making sure that all the physical arrangements have been made ie, making
sure the lottnges are reserved, food is ordered, tables have been set up, etc,
d). Someone to be in charge of the 9 COBB dorm drives.
e). Fraternities and sororities coordimtor. This person will be in
charge of getting donors and volunteers from the fraternities and sororities
on campus and handling publicity for them. This person will hopefully work
with the cooperation of tlie Panhellic Council.
f). Trained volvmteers head. For the Champaign County Blood Bank's
dorm drives student volimteers can talie medical histories and hematocrits in
addition to regular volunteer work. Ti- ese volunteers must be trained at the
JC3B. The trained vclunteers head will work with Charles
13rummond at COBB to schediile interested volunteers to be trained>
n
- 3 -
COMPUTER SERVICES Jan Bogorad and Paula Carlin
need approximately 1 more person.
Codec donor information onto computer tapes and helps getting out
mailing for any of the other committees. Persons applying should have some
computer programming knowledge.
If you are interested in working on any of the above committees please
fill out the bottom 2/3 of this sheet and mail it to VIP. (before you come
down to school) ArvCcW'i m<*o iC^y
I
cut on this line, fold in half, place stamp on it, and drop in the mail box.
ureoSojj pooxa :uq.q.'B
1.08 L9 STOUTxxi '^uBqjfl
qq-jOH uoTun Turixi Qz<i
ortr 'sOiOarQHci initii HaaiMiOA
/ /
Name Campus phone
Campus address Date you will be on campus:
Check which one you would like to work under;
Publicity
Donor Relations and Recruitment ( head)
Computer Services
Volunteer Relations and Logistics (just on committee)
Red Cross coordinator
CCBB coordinator (may already be taken)
Dorm complex coordinator (name of complex )
Floor blood representative (name of dorm and floor n\xmber
)
_Fratemities and Sororities coordinator
jTrained Volunteers Head
(staple or tape halves together)
^
Appendix P
DEFINITIONS
Altruism
Unselfish concern for others; usually evidenced by non-monetary
helping behavior.
Assurance, Blood
The eligible donor makes a donation of one pint of blood each year
in return for which he and his family are insured for their blood
needs for one year. The plan has several variations. It could be
for a group of people who donate a number of pints equal to a fixed
percentage of its membership or families. It could be a community-
wide plan. See Appendix C.
Blood Banks
Blood banks are concerned with the collection of blood from donors.
Some (e.g., hospital blood banks) will also be concerned with
processing, cross-matching and transfusion. If not in a hospital
they will be concerned with collecting, distributing and supplying
whole blood.
Blood Labeling Act
In Illinois the Blood Label Act, enacted in 1972, requires that
all blood for transfusion be labeled either "Blood from Volunteer
Donor" or "Purchased Blood", since there is a greater risk of
infecting patients with hepatitis if the blood is drawn from paid
donors. The act also requires that if purchased blood is used, the
attending physician must enter in the patients medical record "his
reasons for such action." The impact of this law has been to
virtually eliminate use of paid blood in Illinois.
Components, Blood
Portion of blood separated by physical process at the blood banks,
whole blood
packed red blood cells
fresh frozen plasma
platelet rich plasma
platelet concentrates
cryoprecipitate
Credit Donor
Donates blood to replace blood used by himself, his family or
friends. It is possible that he can ask that his pint be used
as a credit for an unnamed recipient of blood.
Derivatives, Blood
They are separated from plasma by chemical means. Done in a pharma-
ceutical house, in contrast to components which are made at blood
banks .
Drawing Agencies
Organizations that are equipped with personnel and equipment to
draw blood. They may exist in a hospital or independently of a
hospital (e.g.. Red Cross and Community Blood Banks).
Inducements
Inducements to donate blood may be as extreme as an implied reduction
in a prison sentence to the distribution of lapel pins designating
the number of donations given.
Outdating
Whole blood is outdated if it is not used within 21 days of being
drawn. Also referred to as wastage. (It is possible to salvage
the plasma, so "wasting" is misleading.)
Packed Cells
Whole blood minus a high percent of the plasma.
Plasma
Blood is composed of a vast number of minute cells suspended in
pale yellow fluid. The pale yellow fluid is plasma. It is valuable
for transfusion fluid and can be stored several months.
Plasmapheresis
A process in which a donor gives a pint of blood, the red cells are
separated from the plasma (the liquid part of the blood as distin-
guished from the suspended elements), and are then injected back
into the donor. It is used to produce plasma for anti-hemophiliac
factor and other blood proteins.
Platelet-pheresis
Donors give 2 pints of blood at a single session. After the first
pint has been drawn the donor waits in a 'donor chair' while a high
speed centrifuge separates the plasma and the platelets from the
whole blood. When this is done, the red cells, white cells and
some plasma are returned to the donor's veins. Then another pint
is withdrawn and returned in the same session.
Platelets
Take part in the clotting of blood and so help to stop bleeding
when blood vessels are cut or damaged. Platelets are tiny and
make up a small but critical fraction of whole blood.
Replacement
After use of blood, patients and their families are encouraged to
find family and friends to give blood in order to replace the blood
used by the patient. If the blood itself is not replaced the
patient is sometimes charged a fee called a non-replacement fee.
In effect, some hospitals "loan" blood on condition the loan is
repaid in blood or money.
Shelf-life
After 21 days of storage under refrigeration, where blood has lost
some of its usefulness because many red cells have been altered and
chemical changes have occurred, making it less desirable for trans-
fusion. Regulations prohibit transfusion of blood more than 21 days
old.
Walk- in Donor
Donor who appears at a drive or permanent drawing center without an
appointment.
Appendix Q
SAMPLE USAGE OF NEWSPAPERS
Blood
drive
totals
The Volunteer
mini Projects-
sponsored 1)1 Dod
drive continues
today and
Thi rsday in II-
lini Rooms K
and r of the II-
lini L'nion. F'er-
sons who want to
donate blood to-
day should go to
the Union, wlule
those who want
to donate Thurs-
day canmako an
:i{>|)ointinent h>
o;i!liiiK :!:t:M02o.
<v!- tar K') vi'li
«»iii ;in appoini-
nienl.
7,000
• 6,000
> 4.000
•3,000
UlUC amcfal Wotice
5/l4V7-f
GIVE BLOOD
TODAY
English Building, Lower Gyrti
9 a.m. — 4 p.m.
Appointments for tomorrow:
VIP at 333-1020
Blood drive total
Volunteer lUini Projects
collected 237 pints pf blood at Garner
and Illinois Street Residence Halls
Friday, This brings the year's total
to 2,637 pints,
VIP's next blood drive will be
October 22, 23 and 24 at the Illini
Union from 10:15a, m, fo4:l5 p.m. at
and Floridii Avenue Residence Halls
Ironi 11;3() a.m. to 7 p.m.
Persons wishing to make ap-
pointments lo give l)lood may call
333-1020 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Walk-in donors are welcome, ac-
cording to Paul Pisarik, director of
VIP's blood drive.
Goal for this year:
9,750 pints
5000
- 1000
Siinimof hUjud
clnv.-tot.ll 7bO
<^^^'
iff'ii'fi
Letters
Donate blood today, Friday
To the Editor :
Students, faculty, staff: you are invited to
donate blood Thursday and Friday in the
English Building Lower Gym, A good tur-
nout wdl ensure that blood supplies will be
maintained over spring vacation.
The University of Illinois had provided
6,000 to 7,000 pints a year since the state
went to an all-volunteer blood system two
years ago. The elimination of the paid donor
has been accompanied by a significant drop
in the incidence of hepatitis in the Chicago
area.
Many donors ask where the blood goes.
About half of our total is distributed in
Central Illinois by the Red Cross, and the
other half is used right here in the local
hospitals and is collected by the Champaign
County Blood Bank.
Chicago hospitals receive blood from both
these agencies on refjuest. Thus the
University blood program provides needed
pints all over the state, helping to assure
that fresh blood is on the shelf whenever and
wherever it is needed.
Call Volunteer Illini Projects. 333-1020,
for an appointment or walk in at the English
Building Lower Gym, 9:45 am, to 3:45 p,m,
today or Friday,
JOHNHACKMANN
Appendix R
AMPLE VOLUNTEER MANUAL
VOLUNTEER ILLINI PROJECT'S
BLOOD PROGRAM
Volunteer Manuol
with
b y
PAUL PISARIK
Director
material from a report
MELISSA BEAN
b y
Sept. 1975
I would like to welcome you to Volunteer Illini Project's
Blood Program. The blood program here at the u of I is unique
in two aspects from any other college blood program. First it
is the largest blood program in the country and secondly the
program besides scheduling donors to give blood during the
regular school year schedules them to give at the Champaign
County Blood Bank (CCBB) during the summer and Christmas
vacations — the times when blood is needed the most. Most of
the people who are scheduled at CCBB over vacation periods are
University faculty and staff. In addition to this we sent
pledge cards to all University donors asking them to donate
over the tsuiimicr at tli'fir n«=»1 gliliorhoori bloori i^ank.
The goal of our Blood Program is to provide an adequate
supply of safe, inexpensive blood throughout the state of
Illinois , Any blood agency with which we work (and there are
five such agencies this year) must demonstrate that it makes
efficient use of the pints we give them and must not charge
recipients a 'replacement fee'. Next to collecting blood
this is the next most immediate thing we are concentrating
our effort on. We hope to completely abolish this fee from tii&
blood bank here in Chanibana and eventually throughout the
state. This replacement fee is a fee that is charged to a
blood recip' .nt if he doesn't replace the blood that he used
with that of a friend's or relative's blood. This may not
be hard to do in the cases where only a few pints of blood
are used^ but in the cases where 20 to 30 pints of blood are
used, replacing them becomes practically impossible and the
patient is stuck with paying 300 to 600 dollars out of his
own pocket (this is not covered by insurance ) .
As a result of our program, all the students, faculty,
retired University of Illinois (Urbana campus) employees and ,,
their immediate families enjoy 'blood assurance' by the American
Red Cross . This coverage is explained on the red cards that
most of you got when you picked up your ID cards. In short,
this blood assurance means that the University community or
its immediate family is entitled to all of the blood it needs
anywhere in the United States or Canada without incurring
xeplscement obligations or charges for the blood beyond
laboratory costs. Similarly for every pint the University
community gives , a patient somewhere receives a pint which
he is not obligated tD replace. The Rtndents, faculty, and
staff represent about 45,000 families. If 6750 pints of blood
or more are donated by the meii±>ers of the University Community
each year, this community will have gathered enough blood
to meet the needs of it families.
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What I have written above gives a general description of
the Blood Program. The reason that I included thic in the manual
was to better inform you about the program in case any donor
at a drive would have any questions about it. Now a few words'
about the volunteer in general and the time that I feel a
volunteer should give. Most of the projects in VIP require
that the volunteers put in about 4 hours per week — depending
of course on the program. The Blood Program asks the volunteer
to put in only 2-4 hours per month (in other words 2-4 hours
per drive) — a quarter of the time that other projects require.
But last year we had a hard time getting voIj nteers to work at
the drives. You don't know how frustrating it is to sit at a phone
and call and call and only get more people saying that they are
busy and can't find the time, than people who will work. I can
well understand that we university students have classes and
homework and in many cases have a job, but surely in the span
of time from V/ednesday morning to Friday afternoon (the days
that all the drives are on) volunteers have at least a couple
of hours that they can volunteer. If not, then they really
shouldn't have signed up to be a volunteer. With all the
responsibilities that I have with the blood program, I feel that
working at the drives is the best part of being with the blood
program. I would rather do that than go through some of the
administrative hassles that I have to go through.
What I v;ould like you to do is this. Before each drive,
about the B'riday before the week of the drive, call the VIP
office (333-1020) and tell Susan, tie secretary there, what you
would like to do at the drive and the dates and times . The
different thingg that you can do at the drives and the dates and
times of all the drives are listed in this manual. If it is
at all possible, try to schedule a 2 hour time so that there is
less of a turnover of volunteers . Please try to work a little
at each blood drive. The reason I would like you to call the
Friday before the week of the drive is so that the Volunteer
Relations and Logistics Committee can have enough time either to
tell the dorms in which the blood drive is being held of the
number of volunteers that still need to be gotten or in the case
of a Union drive, to have enough time to sit next to the phone
and start phoning all those volunteers who had not yet called
to work at the dr-ive. Another reason is that a number of
volunteers complained last year that they were never called
upon to volunteer . With the 200 volunteers we have had last
year, it was hard to call everyone before the drive and before
our patience ran out.
One final work to those volunteer who live close to or in
FAR and PAR: we still need a dorm coordinator for each of these
two dorm complexes, as well as floor representatives for most
of the floors. The coordinators' re^^ponsibilities are to somehow
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get a person en most of the floors to be a floor blood represen-
tative (whose main responsibility will be to help put up pub-
licity posters and alternate with the other floor representatives
in sitting in the cafeteria for 5 nights prior to the drive to
sign up donors and volunteers . The other responsibility is to
mal:e sure that all the physical arrangements have been made, i.e.
making sure the lounges are reserved, food is ordered, tables
have been set up, etc. This person will be aided by Volunteer
Relations and Logistics Chairperson and the Publicity Chairperson
in anything that they may need. If you are interested, please
phone the VIP office and the secretary will give me your phone
nninber and I'll get into contact with you or phono mo directly
at 332-0848.
Now we are ready to get to the nitty-gritty. Listed below
are the different things that you can do at the Red Cross drives
and the CCBB drives. Note that there are certain things you can
do for CCBB that you aren't allov/ed to do for Red Cross, so I
will list the different things you can do for each drive
separately along with what each station will be responsible to
do. The last page of the manual is the schedule for all the
drives for the rest of the school year. Please tear this sheet
off the rest of the booklet and put it up on you wall or
bulletin board. On the left hand side of the chart for each
drive is the date of tie Friday the week before that particular
drive. This is again the date before which you should call to
volunteer for that drive. This schedule is subject to slight
changes as the year progresses .
RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE VOLUNTEER POSITIONS
RECEPTIONI ST
1. The receptionist should be able to answer donors
questions or at least be able to refer the donor to someone who
can. (Medical questions not answered by disqualification sheets
provided or the disqualification sign should be taken to head
nurse.)
2. This person will be taking appointments for the day's
drive and marking donor's names off as they arrive. Donors
should then be directed to tlie typists.
3. Donors wanting appointments for the next day(s) of the
drive should be given the VIP office number (333-1020) and
directed to the nearest university phone.
4. Walk-in donors can be taken as the situation permits.
This ability to judge the situation comes from experience.
5 . Nev; volunteers should be directed to the supervisor .
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6. This person will be in charge in keeping track of how
many prospective donors show up at the drive on the tally sheets
prepared by the Red Cross (head nurse has these) .
7, When the receptionist is not so busy, he/she can talk
to people who have finished donating to yet some epttimate of how
fast donors are getting out. Ideally, it would be less than an
hour, but realistically it is one to one and a half hours.
yypiSTS
1. The typist will be given a sample form of how the
registration form should be typed out. It should have the
donors full name, permanent address, home phone number, where
employed (eg, U of I student), campus address, date, date of
birth, social security number (in two places), and sex,
2. Donor must sign the registration from and any donor
cards should be paper clipped to the front of the card.
3 . If the donor hands you a: card from another blood
bamk you can use this to type the basic information. Long
names are easier to copy than to listen to.
4. Replacement forms are also generally kept at this table.
A donor wishing to credit his pint of blood to someone else must
provide the name of the patient, where and when the patient, was
hospitalized and the address of the patient. All requested
information must be obtained so that credit for the blood can
be sent. If the person is requesting a replacement for a
member of this university or his family, then the person should be
informed of the University of Illinois *s Blood Assurance Plan
with ttie Peoria Red Cross and should be directed to the
Insurance Office , B-6 , Cpble Hall , to fill out the necessary
forms .
5. Typists should give the donor his registration card and
show him where the coat racks are and instruct him to go to the
temperature station,
CARD MACHINE OPER ATORS (this is listed on the volunteer sign up
sheets as being under typists)
This volunteer is at the same table as the typists. Only Red
Cross plastic cards work in the machine .
1. Make sure that the information of the plastic card is
correct. If it is not and the donor wants it changed, a new
card must be typed up and the old plastic card attached to the
registration forxn with a paper clips
2. If the information is correct, check to make sure the
person has not donated within the past eight weeks .
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3. Make sure the donor writes down his campus phone number,
campus address, and puts his social security number in two places
as mentioned before.
4. Make sure that the donor signs the registration card.
5. Paper clip the plastic card to the frortof the card.
6. Do not run over the card with the machine more than
once,
7. If you have any problem with the machine^ tell the head
nurse .
TEMPERATU RE TAKERS
1. Greet 1±ie donor and take his registration card. Ask
for his/her weight and record it on the card. Donor must be
17-61 years of age? donors must wiigh 110 pounds (women) and
130 pounds (men) .
2. Wlien asking wcigHt., dr» 1+- quietly r «oinc p«?ople do not
like to have it shouted across the room.
3. Make sure that the donor has signed the forro.
4. When the donors come to the station, have their cards
on the table in order that they arrive. In order to facilitate
this orderliness number the cards from 1 through the number of
donors that pass through this station at the top of the form.
5. Check the theonoroeter before inserting it into the donors
nriouCh to make sure it has been shaken down below 94 degrees
Fahrenheit, and that the tip is not broken or cracked. Make sure
the volunteer is seated.
6» Leave the thermometer in the donors mouth about three
minutes. The temperature should be between 95.6 and 99.6 degrees
F. If this temperature reading is above or below this range, ask
the donor if he/she wouldn't mind using a different tliermometer ,
and then insert a new one and reread the temperature. Write down
both temperatures and circle the second one. If this second
temperature doen't lie in the range specified, send him on to
the next station anyway „ ONLY THE NURSE AT THE NEXT STATION
CAW TEI.T, A DONOR TEAT HE TANIMOT DONATE BECAUSE OF HIS TBMPERAUTRE ,
7. After taking the thermometer out of the donors mouth,
wipe it off .with a clean, wet gauze. Use a new piece of gauze
for each thermometer. DO NOT REUSE THE THERMOMETER.
8. Put the used thermometers in the plastic container.
Make sure the thermometers are all lying the same way. Staclv
the therr.oi-ieters ona layer thick and put a squjxre of paper
- 6 -
toweling between each layer.
9. The donor should be given his card and told to go to
the blood pressure station.
WALIOSRS
1. The walkers most important function is to make sure no
one gets hurt. If a donor starts to feel faint, etc.:
a. Protect his head.
b. Get the person to the ground as fast and as safely
as possible .
c . Summon canteen nurse .
d. Move the cot to the person. Do not move the person
to the cot.
2. The nurse will generally do any or all of the following:
a . Put their legs up •
b . Have them breathe into a paper bag .
c. Cover the person with blankets, if needed.
d. Keep watch on the pulse,
e. Have the person drink milk.
3. If there are enough walkers, it is all right to talk
to the recovering donor, providing the donor is up to it and
the nurse does not seem to mind.
4. walkers should be alert to nurses. The nurse will
signal when the donor is ready to go to the canteen, and the walker
cixc'oiri not keep the nurse waiting.
5. When walking a donor to the canteen, hold the bandaged
arm; this leaves the donors good arm to pull a chair in th*»
canteen. It also keeps the donor from failing and p\i*-i-ing
pressure on tliat arm.
6. The walker MUST HOLD ONE TO EVERY DONOR. A donor often
claims to feel fine, protests someones holding him, and then
faints .
7. Donors should not lean on bandaged arm.
8. Taka the finished blood unit and the card over to the
custodian table. Needless to say, the unit should be entirely
disconnected txam the donor, before removing it from the donor
table .
9. Guys walking girls and vice versa works out welllll
C ANTSSN WORKERS
The local Red Ci-oss is in charge of this station; however, it
helps to have student volunteers here to pass out refreshments .
1. The floor supervisor should introduce the VIP volunteer
to the Red Cross lady in charge and other volunteers,
2, The Red Cross lady generally shows the voluntoars what
-. 7 -
to do. This is :
a, giving each donor a cup of water— they roust drinlc
this first.
b. then asking them if they prefer Coke or coffee
(cream/sugar)
c. giving the donor two cookies
d, giving donor a 'be nice to me, I gave blood today'
sticker .
3 • Donors can have as much as they want .
4. If you run out of something in the canteen, the women
in the kitchen can get if for you (go through the swinging f=looio
in the Illinl Rooms) , The VIP supex visor shonlH icru.w where
refreshements are too.
5. Canteen volunteers should watch to make sure people look
OK, Any change in color should be watched. Usually the nurse
takes care of this .
6. If the person feels faint, have him put his head betweeit
his legs and a volunteer should move a cot to the person. Summon
a nurse •
7. STAY CAIi4. Distract other donors if one has a reaction
before a chain reaction starts. If one faints, often so will a
f ow ot-.hftrs .
8. When working with food, be sanitary. Handle the cookies
as little as possible and use napkins .
9. The donor should keep his arm on the table so that the
nurse can make sure that it is not still bleeding .
10. The donor must stay in the canteen 15 minutes (by the
nursGS watch 1 1 )
11. The donor gallon pins are handed out in the canteen; this
provided imniadlate reinformement for these donors .
CHAMPAIGN COtJNTY BLOOD BANK VOLUWTEER POSITIONS (for all drives
labeled CCBB) . VOLUNTEERS FOR THIS MUST BE TRAINED AT THE
CHAMPAIGN COUNTY BLOOD BANK, TRAINING TNPTWDES Tif^KlN^; ^JSDICAL
HISTORIES, JIFMATOCRITS , TEMPERATURES AND TYPING BLOOD. CAN CALL
THE VIP OFFICE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON HOW HCW CAN BE TRAINED.
MEDICAL HIST ORIES
1. Be familiar with CCBB donor guidelines and know v;ho to
ask questions of at the blood bank (one of the technicians who
doesn't look so busy) .
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2. When the donor comes in, ask him to hang up his coat
and to be seated.
3. Have the person fill out the information on the front of
the registration card. First make sure the information on the
front of the card is correct. (Should have local address, local
phone, and social security number for VIP purposes too.)
4. Ask. all the medical history questions and mark the
prospective donors response on the card.
5. Make sure donor reads and signs card.
HEMATOCRI TS _A.NP .BLOOD T YPING
1. Have the donor sit at the table and check to see that
the registration card is filled out and signed.
2. Take the donors middle finger (donor may prefer you use
the hand that he doesn't write with) .
3. Squeeze finger gently in the direction of palm to
finger tip.
4. Dampen cotton ball with alcohol and wipe off finger tip.
5. Twist off cap of finger lancet.
6. Try to relax donor, perhaps ask him to turn his head
^v^'ay .
7. While gently, but firmly, holding donors hand, jab
needle into finger forcefully enough to break the skin and collect
several drops of blood. Don't be afraid to give a forceful
prlr-v so that the person doesn't have to be stuck again.
8. Wips off the first drop of blood, since this may be
diluted with alcohol and fill two capillary tuben . One will be
for typing purposes and the other for a hematocrit. Put the
capillary tubes in sealing clay.
9. Give donor cotton to hold over puncture site.
HEMATOCRI T
1. Put the capillary tube with blood into tlie centrifuge
and leave for three minutes .
2. Remove the tube, align on the device for reading
hematocrits; and determine the approximate percentage of red blood
cell/whole blood. The minimum acceptable standards are men- -41%
and women — ^Q%.
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3. Record results.
BLOOD TYPING
1. Blood type Reaction to
O Neither anti A or antl B agglutinates .
A Anti A agglutinates when ndded; anti B
doesn't agglutinate.
B Anti B agglutinates; antl A doesn't
agglutinate.
AB Anti A, anti B, both agglutinate.
2. Use capillary tube of blood and put two drops on glass
slide — add anti A to one and anti B to the other, stir, and note
results .
3. Rh factor test can also be done. Put another drop of
blood on another slide, a^-^ anti~Rh and put on top of heating
device. Mix gently (move slide from side to side). If agglut-
ination occurs, donor is probably Rh+, meaning he has the Rh+
antigen.
4. These typing tests are not necesaarily entirely aceutato.
since there are other less common type factors; however th€»B*^ ^t^
the most ooiiunon blood types.
TEMPiSRATUIlS
1. Cover thermometer with a new plastic cover after shaking
it out down below 94 degrees Fahrenheit.
2 . Piit the thermometer under donors tongue and leave for
approximately three minutes .
3. Remove the thermometer from the donors mouth, throw the
plastic covering away, read the thermometer and record results.
4„ DO NOT GIVE THE P22RSON THERMOMETER WHILE THSY ARE liAVING
THEIR FINGER PRICICED 1 I 1 1 1
CANT?JEN
1. Th9 donor vd 11 be sent into the donor recovery area for
a period of no less than 15 minutes during v;hich time the canteen
person will watch him to insure that there are no imiu<^diate adverse
reactions (such as fainting, dizziness, etc.).
2. The canteen volunteer must remain calm if an emergency
situation should arise.
3. I:c a person feels faint ask him to put his head between
}:;.s legs z-nzi cvill a nurse. Ammonia cnpsules are available from
t".ie niiri>e .
- 10 -
4. If this happens, distract other donors while the nurse
cares for the ill donor, so that a chain reaction doesn't start
and other donors start passing out.
5. Give donors whatever they want to eat.
6. Talk with donors and try to put them at ease.
7. After fifteen minutes, if there have been no problems,
the donor may leave.
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